Two Halves of a Whole
by Tangerine Catnip
Summary: Fenton and Phantom have been forcefully split into two. With no way to rejoin again they must find a way to cope with life without the other half. Until they realize they both still need to depend on the other. Eventual Pitch Pearl, aka Danny X Phantom
1. Blame the Fruitloop

**In the beginning…**

_When humans were first created by the Sun, Moon, and Earth they were gifted with two faces, four arms and legs. They ran and fought with the strength of two, thought with the sharpness of two minds and listened with four ears. Complete and perfect they soon became arrogant, and with this amazing power they dared to scale Mt. Olympus and attack the gods themselves._

_Not wishing to simply destroy his only worshipers, Zeus instead split them in half, sending Apollo to make the repairs to fully separate them. When the humans realized what had been done to them they began to run around franticly looking for their lost half. Seeking them out and clinging desperately together, trying to merge back into one. Sadly the damage had already been done and quickly the creatures fell into grief and despair so deep they nearly starved to death._

_Mindful of his need for worship, Zeus sent Apollo to make one last alteration. The god of healing changed the placement of the gender organs, giving humans the means to rejoin temporarily. Thus to this day we still hunt for our missing half, seeking in them the companionship that we lost long ago…_

**Two halves of a whole**

Chapter 1. Blame the Fruitloop

Phantom tightened his arms around the familiar material of a much loved white and red shirt. His green eyes wide with terror that was only beginning to ebb away as he shot through the night sky of Amity Park like a bat out of hell. In his arms the seventeen year old boy shifted. His fingers dug into the black spandex of the ghost boy's suit, clinging with a reflection of the fear that was pushing Phantom to breakneck speeds.

Silently daring himself to look the ghost preformed a quick twist in the air, checking if they were being tailed, but his glance revealed nothing but the empty black sky, lighted by an ivory moon. The street lights of the metropolis sprawling out in all directions underneath them. Phantom relaxed as if a weight had been taken off his shoulders and slowed from his top speed, only to be suddenly spurred back to them as a violent memory flashed in his mind. Unable to move… those bright lights… the horrible pain in his chest so intense he felt like his heart was being ripped out.

He shot forward, his head down and eyes closed as if he could outrun the events of the last five hours. However it wasn't long before rationality kicked back in and he remembered that he had long since escaped. In an attempt to distract himself from his memories and because he needed to come to terms with recent events, he shifted his flight pattern so that the wind wouldn't impede conversation.

Softly he spoke his first name, directing it to the boy in his arms. The word carried with it all he thought of as himself, the very ideas that had been just recently shattered all over the laboratory floor.

"Danny…"

Two aqua eyes responded to the sound, glancing up from under a fringe of dark hair. Green and blue irises met and Phantom stopped in midair. It would seem that he was still unable to truly understand what had just happened to him… or them as of now…

The ghost watched the emotion on the human's face, finding it very odd to see it when it wasn't a reflection of his own. He watched as fear changed to confusion then into anger. Danny leaned back in his alter ego's arms and swore loudly into the empty sky. Phantom was a little taken aback by the outburst, until he realized that when the terror wore off he would likely feel the exact same way.

"Stupid… fucking… ghha! Why does he do this shit to me?" Danny finally managed to shout, putting his thoughts into more than just expletives. Phantom sighed, or rather he made the motions, a little distressed when he realized no air was coming from or to his lungs. Ignoring it for now he responded to himself "-Because he's a hopelessly deluded, seriously fucked up fruit loop."

The arms around Phantom's back moved to settle around his shoulders. His human self was regarding him again, a look in his eyes that the Phantasm couldn't read. Somehow the Ghost found this very unsettling, and it took him a few moments to realize why. He couldn't read his own thoughts. He didn't know exactly what Danny was feeling… The knowledge brought forth a sudden pang of loss that was thankfully interrupted by another outburst from the human.

"Ohhhh shit… what am I supposed to do now…" Danny moaned, his piercing gaze shifting to the pinpricks of stars that played witness to this exchange between selves. Phantom, who had so far proved to be the more grounded of the two, (ironic as it was considering he was the one floating) felt the need to try to comfort his human self.

"Stop worrying, we will find a way to fix this... It's not like we haven't had to deal with a few extra of us before." He propped the human up a little, and despite the day they both had he attempted a reassuring smile. Nevertheless the look Danny gave him for this statement was much closer to his 'worried about a math test' face than anything resembling relieved.

"Vlad used the word permanently, twice.." Danny muttered softly. Phantom cringed at the reminder, recalling pieces of Vlad's self-indulgent tirade on just how clever his method of splitting Danny apart had been, and even more disturbingly, how he planned to use it to gain the other as an heir. "So what?" Phantom asserted, "If I had a nickel for every time Vlad was wrong about something-"

A trace of a grin passed over the human's lips at this reflection of his own self-assuredness and he nodded in agreement. Pleased with this, Phantom resumed his intent of getting them both back home safely, the breeze picking up, brushing his white hair back and making the loose bits of Danny's clothing ruffle.

It was almost lost in the rush of the wind, but Phantom heard it when Danny muttered "…but this time it feels different…"

* * *

><p>Fenton's grip tightened on Phantom again, a shiver running down his back as he phased them through their bedroom wall. Green eyes checked over the room to make sure it was empty before changing back into visible form, flying over to the bedstead and unceremoniously dropping his passenger onto the mattress.<p>

The human gave a small yelp of protest before realizing that he had landed safely. He propped himself up on his elbows, only realizing after he started moving how sore the nights events had left him. He groaned loudly as Phantom perched himself on the end of their bed. His glowing gaze passed over his human self, concern showing in his furrowed brows. "Nothings broken, is it?" he asked, remembering how susceptible full humans were to injury.

"No.. Just a little sore-" Danny's sentence was interrupted by a loud yawn so wide that Phantom could have counted his molars, "and tired" he finished, slumping back on his bed, eyes half closing and muscles visibly relaxing.

Phantom blinked, only realizing now that Danny had mentioned it how oddly energized he felt. A fact that seemed even stranger when a quick look at the bedside clock told him it was just passed three in the morning. However he did remember feeling like this before, when he had separated into two for the first time and his superhero persona had gained all their powers.

If that was the case, it was likely he wouldn't be able to transform into a human until they sorted this mess out. Glancing down at his gloved fingers the ghost boy decided that he might as well give it a go, just so he knew what he was dealing with. Without another thought, he closed his eyes and summoned the two white transformation rings.

The flash of light snapped his human self out of his half-slumber and when Phantom reopened his eyes he found Danny staring at him in confusion. He looked down at his hands, seeing pure white skin and short cut nails, but no gloves... He fell off his perch in surprise, but instead of dropping like a stone he found himself floating backwards.

He hung upside down for a moment before righting himself, quickly drifting over to the mirror that rested on his dresser. He raised a hand to his cheek, appraising the slightly mixed appearance that looked back through the glass. He still had the snow white hair and glowing green eyes, but his skin was slightly paler than he could ever remember it being and his ghostly aura was dulled.

He was wearing a black T-shirt with white rings on the end of the sleeves and the hem of the shirt, his large D and inner P symbol still displayed proudly across his chest. Not unlike the one he had been given courtesy of the Fenton crammer and his slowly waning powers, but this time his pants were only shaped like his casual jeans. Instead he had Black dress pants and white boots that were a little narrower and more running shoe shaped than his regular butt-kickers.

"Okay... That's weird," Danny asserted from across the room. Phantom turned to him, "You're telling me" He replied, walking over to the bedside and staring pointedly at the human.

"You should try transforming too, maybe it will give us a better idea of how we were split," Phantom suggested. The teenager nodded and leaned back. Spectral rings erupted in a flash of bright light, trailing over the young male's body and turning his clothes into a sleek one-piece covering every inch of his body from the neck down.

Phantom frowned and Danny looked back up at him, his expression silently asking if it had worked properly. To which the answer was a big fat 'not so much'. His suit was the wrong color, or more accurately the right color. The white on black that he had remembered pulling on just over three years ago, before he had walked into the Phantom portal and changed everything. It was even missing the little addition Sam had made to it in the midst of the Desiree debacle. Even Danny's hair was still the normal jet black, and his blue eyes were as dim as any ordinary human's.

Phantom lowered himself to the ground, taking a few steps to see how it felt. When he turned back he saw that Danny had forced himself up, and with a few more growls of discomfort he had wandered over to the mirror to check on the results.

"Do you feel any more powerful?" the silver haired boy asked, taking a few more careful steps over to Fenton. "Not really… I just feel kind of stupid in this outfit... " Danny replied, shrinking away from Phantom a little bit when he gave him a glare for the comment. Phantom rolled his eyes and wrapped his fingers around Danny's black-gloved hand, dragging the teen back to bed.

"This is bad, isn't it?" the more human of the two asked as he was pushed back into bed. Phantom looked him in the eyes again and the grip on his wrist tightened.

"It's different, for one the line between us is not half as clear as it was when we split with the Ghost Catcher." The phantasm mused sitting on the side of the bed.

"Yha, for one I feel like myself… well minus the ghost powers... but I don't feel like I have zero concept of responsibility or want to OD on Cheetos…" Danny added, before trailing off and resting against his pillow. Phantom looked at him for a moment before deciding that reassurance was best for now. There was no way they were going to be able to solve this tonight and the more sleep his mortal half got the better he would be to help him find a solution tomorrow.

"We will find a way to work it out.." Phantom offered, patting Danny on the shoulder. Pulling his hand away for a moment when the energy rings reappeared and took away the human's white suit. The teenager rolled over onto his side facing his other self, letting out a deep sigh.

His eyes were back on Phantom and he started to ask "What if…" before he seemed to think better of it and closed his mouth. However phantom was already feeling slightly wary of the fact that he could no longer share Danny's thoughts and the hero pressed for the rest of the question. Sadly he was unprepared when he eventually received it.

"What if we're no longer two parts of the same.. You know… Person?"

The question struck something deep inside the ghost boy and his first reaction was to push it away. Of course he and Danny were still the same being. They shared a voice, appearance, and memories. They were just temporarily separated, but they were far too compatible to be kept apart for long. You couldn't have Danny Fenton without Phantom. They were one on the most basic of levels, right into the DNA.

He shook his head and almost laughed, assuring his other half that it was not likely. Danny didn't look convinced but he was too sleepy to argue. Instead he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around his pillow, clutching it to his chest. Phantom wandered off for a moment and returned dragging one of Danny's beanbag chairs back over to the bed. He settled down on top of it and got himself comfortable.

He was about to close his eyes and rest, even if he knew it was unlikely he would sleep, when a soft sound came from the teen on the bed. "Hey, Phantom?" he murmured, his hand reaching out over the side of the bed. The ghost took the offered hand with his own and nodded that he was listening. "Vlad was just talking crazy when he said that if you remained separated from me you would turn evil… right?

Phantom paused, recalling that part of the malevolent man's rant vary clearly all of a sudden. He shook his head, ridding himself of the idea. As far as he could tell he was just as compassionate as he had always been. He was still worried about Danny for one, and he didn't wish to see anyone hurt… well besides Vlad for forcing them into this mess, but that was more than deserved.

"He was, I feel no different now than I did when we were one." Phantom answered, not strictly true but the best way to calm the human. Satisfied with the answer the teen fell fast asleep, seemingly forgetting to take back his hand. Phantom didn't seem to mind and didn't bother letting go as he retired into his own thoughts, listening to the quiet of the night and the occasional echoes of their dad's snoring coming from the room down the hall.

A/N

**It gets better after the first chapter… it's been I while since I felt the need to write fan fiction so I'm a little rusty. Also I'm looking for a Bata reader if anyone is interested… (And has way too much time on their hands)**

**also I pretty much wrote this story in between watching episodes from the show, so expect a lot of references to cannon. Especially where weapons are concerned.**


	2. Aftershock

**Chapter 2. Aftershock**

The following morning Danny was roused by a soft tugging on his shoulder. He rolled over, the pillow he had been clutching sliding out of his grip and onto the floor. "Daaaaaaaaanny, rise and shine little brother" a familiar voice called from outside the sweet and warm embrace of sleep. The teen grunted, as if that would convince his sister to go away. Unfortunately she was just as stubborn as the rest of the Fenton clan and just kept shaking him.

Eventually he summoned the energy to sit up, rubbing his eyes with balled fists and blinking until the daytime world stopped being so annoyingly bright. He turned to Jazz, who had retreated to the end of the bed and was smiling that 'knowing older sister' smile at him. He could tell without even asking that she was proud of herself for doing something and she was about to tell him all about it.

"Morning Danny!" she grinned. Waiting for him to reply with a responding "Morning Jazz.." before she got on with it. "I just wanted to tell you not to worry about justifying going missing last night to mom and dad" she clarified. "I managed to run interference and as far as they know you've been here all night." Danny blinked at his sister, his expression of mild annoyance falling into a shocked look as she unknowingly reminded his sleep addled mind about last night.

Jazz picked up on this immediately, concern in her voice as she asked her next question. "Did something happen? I mean besides the normal ghost fighting…" Jazz looked over her brother, suddenly noting how he had slept in his clothes all night, how his shirt had small rips in it, and a few blotches that looked suspiciously like burn marks. Kicking herself for not noticing before, Jazz reached out to cup Danny's cheek in her hand. He had been gazing around the room franticly as if he was looking for something, but when she touched him he turned to her and thankfully did not pull away from the gesture.

Realizing he had not responded, Danny was forced to think quickly about whether or not he should tell Jazz about what had happened… or what he thought had happened. The distinct lack of Phantom in the room had made him question whether or not he had dreamed the whole thing up. Or at least he did until he sat up and saw the seemingly empty bean bag chair that sported a slight dip just big enough for an invisible seventeen year old body.

Realizing that Jazz would leave sooner if he lied, Danny pushed back his conscience. "Umm.. no.. Everything's fine, it was just a little harder than usual… Vlad was involved.." the best lies are based on truth Danny reminded himself and judging by the look of understanding on Jazz's face it worked like a charm.

Jazz nodded but her lips were still forming a slight frown. "Well I'm glad you're alright now, but next time if you think you're in over your head, you should come get me. Mom and dad's weapons work just as well on other ghosts and we've both had enough lectures from dad to know how to use most of it," Danny's sister explained gently. Looking her brother in the eyes like her body language books had advised her to do when trying to be open and honest with someone.

Her younger sibling shrugged off her hand but he was smiling a bit as he did so. Reassuring her that he was fine on his own, but thanks for the offer. Jazz decided that it was the best she could hope to get from him for now and poked him softly on the nose, standing up and announcing "Well you better hurry and get cleaned up before you come down for breakfast, Sam and Tucker will be by to pick you up in less than an hour."

Danny watched her go, but just as she was leaving he heard someone speaking with his voice add a grateful "Thanks Jazz" at her retreating back. She turned and gave him one of her best smiles and took off down the hallway, obviously pleased with how the exchange had gone.

Danny turned to the lumpy bean-filled chair that was now visibly occupied by Phantom. The ghost turned to him and with a surprising amount of grace jumped onto the metal frame at the foot of his human half's bed, resting in the same spot he perched last night. Deciding not to think too hard about where this attraction of looking down on him had come from, Danny addressed the hero. "So what are we going to do?"

Phantom had lots of time to think about the situation while Danny snoozed quietly beside him and had already come up with a plan of sorts. He explained the basics to the teen, "Go to school, you can tell Tucker and Sam what happened at lunch then we can have the rest of the day to figure out what to do. I'll keep close just in case one of our enemies feels like picking a fight."

Danny didn't respond right away, but after rolling over the idea in his mind he realized it was really the most sensible plan, even if it delayed when they would finally start trying to fix this.

Noting the look of resignation on Danny's identical features, Phantom flew to the dresser and opened the top drawer. He picked out another white and red shirt, (always his favorite) some loose jeans, and some clean white-on-red pokadot boxers. He tossed them at the human, who surprisingly managed to catch all the articles.

Danny slid out of bed, looking slightly dejected about having to go to school when there was a problem like this hanging over his head. Phantom drifted over and laced his fingers into Danny's short black hair, tussling it playfully. "Just try to pay attention, graduation is only one term away, and we've managed to save the world and keep our grades up this long," Phantom reminded his other self.

The human humph-ed and made his way to the door of his room, aiming to have a shower before school. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see Phantom opening his bedroom window. (Technically unnecessary, but Danny's room was getting stuffy anyway.) The ghost smiled a little and remarked "Don't worry, you won't see me but I'll be keeping an eye on you." before flying out the window and into the sunny morning sky.

* * *

><p>Danny had just sat down at the usual table in the outside eating area of Casper high, waiting for Sam and Tucker to join him. His lunch resting untouched on the picnic table as he fished around in the inside of his backpack. His fingers touching each item in turn and naming them in his head, Fenton Thermos, a Fenton Wrist Ray, an extendable Fenton Anti-ectoplasm Foam Pistol, and the Fenton Personal Ghost Shield Generator Bracelet. (GS-GB for short)<p>

He had borrowed the extra weapons from the vault next to his parent's room before leaving the house and he was still not sure exactly why. He knew it wasn't that he didn't trust Phantom to keep the city safe. After all he had gotten all of their powers, short of a ghost shield there was little that could stop him.

Danny also told himself that contradictory to what Vlad had asserted last night, anyone could see his own hero spark was more than alive in the heart of his separated spectral half.

However without his powers Danny felt naked, just feeling like he might be susceptible to ghost attack set his teeth on edge. He removed his hand from his backpack, snapping on the Bracelet and Wrist Ray to his left and right arms respectively, sighing softly in relief before coming to a sudden realization. "I'm turning into my parents!"

"Again?" asked Sam, who had just gotten into earshot when Danny had had his outburst. He turned just in time to see the Goth girl settle down beside him on the bench, putting down her salad and opening a bag of organic potato crisps.

Tucker was not far behind, sliding his headset off as he moved into social interaction mode, turning off his Ipod and muting his phone. He still had his priorities though and he made sure to get a large mouthful of ground meat, onions, and tomato sauce before he gestured that normal lunch conversation could begin.

"So what's the crisis this time?" Sam inquired, spearing a spinach leaf and a cherry tomato deftly with her spork. Danny looked from her to Tucker and suddenly he felt all the emotion of last night pour back into him. He sighed deeply, giving his friends a moment to pick up on the fact that this wasn't going to be as easy as the usual lunchtime banter.

Thankfully after spending almost all of their school careers together, Danny's best friends could read him like a book. (Or an eBook in Tucker's case) Sam rested a hand on his shoulder and tried her question again "Is something wrong?" Blue eyes looked back at her and Danny nodded, deciding he better start at the beginning…

"It happened yesterday, I was doing the night ghost patrol when out of nowhere this green beam of energy shot towards me. I went intangible to ovoid it obviously, but somehow it didn't work this time. I remember feeling my powers shorting out, just like when Vlad zapped me with that thing… what did he call it.. The Plasmius Maximus? Anyway, I fell and then everything when dark…" Danny paused, resting his head in his hands. He was entirely confused as to why he was having so much trouble recalling what happened only yesterday. Sam and Tucker were looking very concerned now, and both had stopped eating and were watching and listening to Danny closely.

"Well when I woke up I was strapped to this… thing in Vlad's lab. It looked kind of like an operating table, and it had these large metal braces holding me down… But that wasn't even the scary part… This large spider like thing was hanging from the ceiling and it had claws that were glowing with pink paranormal energy. They looked almost like the kind that extended from Vlad's Ghost Gauntlets in the alternate future…" Danny heard the soft gasp from Sam as she realized where this might be going, but he pressed on anyways. He was determined to get this over with and put the painful memories behind him.

"Then I saw Vlad and he looked at me, but he didn't say anything until after he had turned it on…" Danny bit his lip, deciding to leave out the bits about the intense pain as the claws ripped into him. Feeling them cutting into something that was far deeper than flesh, then pulling it out of him forcefully with a gut wrenching tug that made it feel as if he was surely going to die. "Then I was pushed into this tube, and it was filled with this... goopy stuff... I think I passed out again because the next thing I remember I was in this cage and I was lying next to myself… well the ghost part of myself."

"So you're separated from Phantom right now?" Tucker asked, poking Danny in the shoulder as if to make sure he was still tangible. "Sush.. Let him finish!" Sam scolded, grabbing Tucker's wrist and turning back to Danny.

"Well then Vlad started doing his usual evil explanation of motives, but this time it was much weirder than normal, even for him. He seemed to think that now that Phantom and I were no longer sharing the same body that my ghost half would lose his ability to empathize or relate to humans. Then he would lose interest in playing the hero and choose Vlad as his father, or teacher, or partner... Something like that… " He looked up blankly at Sam and Tucker, observing the worry on both their faces. "That sounds kind of like what happened to your jerky alternate-timeline self." Sam suggested and Tucker nodded in agreement, adding "he didn't have his human half and he described it like he couldn't feel any real emotion anymore…"

Danny felt his stomach twist as his friends voiced the exact same fears he had been harboring since he and Phantom had escaped from Vlad's estate. "I know that sounds like it makes sense but I don't think it's exactly true, just let me finish and we can talk about it." Both of his friends agreed and lapsed into silence.

"Well then he started talking about how he was going to dispose of my human half… Whether he should kill me to hurt my father or let me live long enough to see the greatness my other self would achieve, you know normal bullshit like that... Anyway, He hadn't even finished his crazy fruitloop rant before Phantom flipped out. He started up our ghostly wail but this time it was so powerful he shattered half of Vlad's laboratory before he grabbed me and dragged us back home…"

Danny sat back, eternally grateful he had finally gotten that all out in the open. Both his friends looked from him to each other, wondering what they should say. Tucker was the first to recover, poking Danny again and earning himself another withering look.

"Wait, so if you're split into human and ghost again why aren't you acting like fun Danny? The techno geek enquired, still a little confused seeing as Danny was acting rather normal for missing half his self.

"Phantom and I think that the way Vald split us was a lot closer than the ghost catcher did. I actually can't even tell what parts of our personality he's gotten... it's like were some kind of freakish twins." Danny answered, resting his head in his hands. Sam opened her purple glossed lips to add something but Danny cut her off.

"-Before you say it, I want to make it clear that as far as I can tell he's no more evil than if he was still both of us. I know I'm not an expert on this stuff but…" Danny trailed off realizing he didn't have much proof beyond his gut feeling and a few hours of interaction. Most of which he had been asleep for. Nevertheless, something in his eyes seemed to convince her and she nodded her acceptance.

Danny suddenly felt the need to hug her, but told himself it could wait until they were somewhere that they wouldn't earn more erroneous 'love birds' cracks. "Where is your other half anyway?" Sam asked, finally getting back to her food after paying all her attention to the troubled ex-ghost.

Danny looked back at his lunch before deciding he was still not hungry and explained "I haven't seen him since this morning, but he said he would be keeping an eye on me in case any ghosts attacked." as if on cue, Tucker and Sam gazed around warily, looking for an hints of a hidden eavesdropper.

Just then a loud beeping came from Tucker's supposedly muted Iphone. He dug it out of his pocket and clicked it on, navigating the customized jailbroken menu and holding the screen up for his friends to see. "It's an App I created to stream the emergency ghost alert network," he explained with a lopsided grin, clearly very proud of his modding skills.

His friends looked from him to the phone, two sets of eyes widening as they saw Amity Park's own ghost-kid facing off against three silver and green ghost-beasts. The screen was showing a close up of the first of the monsters, who resembled a giant squid, holding Phantom upside down. One of its tentacles was wrapped around his foot and shaking him violently, while the ghost wolf and snake took turns lunging at him, deadly fangs bared.

Danny recognised the trio as average ecto-animal manifestations he had fought in the early days of gaining his powers, and he was almost sure that he had beat them easily when he did. The teen's confusion showed clearly as he muttered "Why isn't he using the thermos?" As he watched his ghost-self tug his way free and punch the striking snake in his already flat nose.

Then he remembered that his Fenton Thermos was safely tucked away in the side pocket of his bag, and a spark of panic pushed Danny to his feet, earning him muddled looks from Sam and Tucker as he snatched up his backpack. "Where are they!" he asserted slamming his open palm on the table to help convey the urgency to Tucker. Flustered, Tucker poked at the glass touch-screen a few more times and pulled up the ghost tracker GPS. "According to this map they are just 50 meters from-" Tucker suddenly stopped and gulped loudly.

"...Here" he finished, just in time for the ghostly body of a wolf to land headfirst into a nearby table, crushing the wood under its weight and sending the teens who were eating there flying. Without thinking, Danny used the distraction to dive under the table and go ghost. Or at least he thought that's what he was doing until he saw his white suit and black gloves and remembered what he forgot.

Screams from his fellow classmates snapped him out of it and Fenton sprang into action. He activated the gadgets on his wrist and slung the thermos over his shoulder, clicking its detachable strap closed over his chest. The pistol holster fit nicely over his hips and echoed with a second fastening click as he emerged from under the table. He mounted it quickly, fighting the urge to try and take to the air.

Above him Phantom was taking on the snake and the squid, dodging tails and tentacles as he knocked them back with shots of green energy. Meanwhile the wolf that had landed on the other table was beginning to stir and its red eyes locked on the jumpsuit clad human. The beast rolled over and got ready to pounce, licking his lips as he tensed his body.

Phantom saw this out of the corner of his eye a second before it was too late. "Danny!" He turned and screamed just as the seemingly defenceless human summoned a ghost shield. He braced himself as the ghost bounced off of it and fell to the ground again. Phantom blinked in surprize, but his thoughts were interrupted when a strong tail wrapped around his middle and squeezed. His cry of pain caught Danny's attention and the human thrust his other wrist forward, using his hand to press the fire button on the back of the Wrist Ray.

A beam of bright green energy shot forward and hit the snake in the temple, dazing it and allowing Phantom to escape the choke-hold. The ghost-boy smiled at Danny for a moment before launching back into the fray. On the ground the teenager turned back to the wolf that was slowly shaking off slamming into the shield at top speed. Reaching to his hip, Danny slid his secondary weapon out of its holster.

"I always wondered what would happen if I got hit with this stuff…" Danny mused, aiming the ecto-pistol at the spectral canine.

A jet of green slime shot from the barrel and hit the wolf head on, it howled and tried to shake the goop off but it was sticking to the fur and quickly solidifying. Within two minutes he was stuck like a fly in a trap, whimpering softly. Danny gawked at it for a moment before the sound of energy blasts being shot overhead prompted him to reach for his thermos and suck the poor creature into its slightly cramped confines.

Danny was just allowing himself a victory fist pump when a familiar voice from behind interrupted him. "I wouldn't mind a little help with this you know." Danny turned and saw Phantom holding up the snake and the squid, one in each hand, both thoroughly incapacitated. "It would be my pleasure" he retorted turning the thermos on the other two, careful not to get the stream of white capturing energy to near to Phantom.

With a skilled hand Danny closed the container and tossed it to Phantom, unhooking the strap and throwing that to him too. The ghost caught both and secured the capture unit on his shoulder, glancing over the opposite inverted color version of his outfit his human self was sporting.

"Sorry I forgot to give it to you before you went out." Danny blurted, feeling a little guilty about it even though it wasn't exactly his fault. Phantom didn't respond right away, waiting for Danny to notice where he was looking. "Oh that..." the human grasped, looking down at his suit. "Well I also forgot I can't… well you know." suddenly vary aware of his public surroundings Danny kept things vague, adding a quick "I'm forgetting a lot of things today" To hopefully bring this conversation to an end for now.

Picking up on Danny's nervousness, Phantom decided they could talk about this after class. However he couldn't resist murmuring "Thankfully kicking butt wasn't one of them" just loud enough for Danny to hear before making his retreat.

After his ghost half was gone Danny jumped off the table, just then noticing that Sam and Tucker were still sitting on the other end of the bench. Sam was staring at him with wide violet eyes, but Tucker (like Phantom) seemed more concerned with what his friend was wearing. He looked from the black accented jumpsuit to the gathering of green and chrome weaponry, a wide grin splitting his lips as he commented "Dude, you do know you look just like your parents, right?"

Danny sighed and ducked back under the table to change back into his normal clothes.

**A/N**

***tosses Villain Ball at Vlad* Hold this for a little while, won't you?**

**Anyway~ I'm sorry for Danny's little exposition dump. One of the biggest problems I had with this story was how to describe the splitting process without exposing how ludicrous it was. That's why I started after the incident rather than in the middle or before. However I had to address it at some point and I would rather use the opportunity to take advantage of Danny as an unreliable narrator so I can impart what you need to know without dragging it out.**

**Also if anyone is sick of how similar Fenton and Phantom are right now, I'm planning on some character development in the third chapter that is going to make them a little more distinct.**

**...btw does anyone else find the image of white suited Danny loaded with a ton of ghost hunting weapons annoyingly sexy?...**

**Oh never mind…**


	3. Like a Broken Mirror

Chapter 3. Like a Broken Mirror

Initially, Danny was worried that by helping Phantom at lunch he may have singled himself out as an accomplice to the ghost-boy. However, he soon learned that (like Tucker) most of the members of the student body who had seen him take on the ghost wolf had also seen his Fenton-like outfit and had just assumed the ghost hunter genes had finally kicked in. Likewise, Phantom's presence as his partner was considered a coincidence. Not that he minded this little misconception. It gave him one less thing to worry about as they set about the business of trying to put humpty-Danny back together again.

After dragging Sam and Tucker home with him and meeting up with Phantom in the Fenton Works lab, the first thing they tried was the Fenton Ghost Catcher. Admittedly, if it had actually worked Danny would have thought it far too easy. They tried it on the merge side first, but when the glowing net came in contact with Phantom, it pushed him away as if it were a brick wall while Danny passed through without incident. They tried the other side for good measure, but received the same results.

It wasn't until after he had grasped the Catcher wasn't going to work that Danny realized he was out of ideas. Stumped, they sat for a time, trying to plan another course of action. Tucker suggested something along the lines of molecular separators, but Phantom leaned more towards going back to Vlad's mansion and beating a solution out of him.

In the end it was Sam who suggested DNA testing before they took any drastic steps. Via her parent's money, she provided the means and the private hospital that cared for sick Manson family members (which, after her parents had heard about the afternoon she had spent with a case of ecto-acne, now had a ghost diseases wing). Still, the results would take a week to arrive, even with the rush a few extra hundred dollars could offer.

Phantom would have refused the idea if it wasn't for how Danny had impressed him in the school yard earlier. He had always figured he would be unable to protect the city if he ever lost his ghost powers, but when put to the test, it seemed he truly couldn't sit by and let others be harmed. It was rather endearing really, if that didn't sound too conceited. Regardless, he now knew Fenton could handle himself, and so far they seemed to be doing okay in two separate bodies. After all, a week wasn't that long…

* * *

><p>Exactly seven days later, three teens found themselves back in the lab. The half-lit room hummed around them as all the electronics and motors worked away tirelessly, keeping the intricate ghost murdering devices functioning properly. The only sound in the room was the soft glub of green gel turning into ecto-purifying Fenton foam.<p>

Danny and Tucker were settled on the lab floor, looking up at Sam who sat on the lab bench opposite a collection of slowly boiling beakers. She slit open the envelope seal with a black painted nail and pulled out a small collection of printed documents.

She looked over a few graphs provided by the doctors to help the young adults understand the findings, but after becoming thoroughly confused she moved to the cover letter, passing the more complex stuff to Tucker for him to try decoding.

She slowly read the information aloud, trying to pick out the more relevant pieces of information. "'Samples contain levels of an as yet unknown contaminant, sharing some traits from what we understand about ghost molecular structures. However, sample A (Danny) is far less affected than sample B (Phantom).'" She looked up at the blue eyed male in question, who only nodded in response. He understood what it meant; it wasn't anything he didn't already know.

"'—Both DNA samples are complete, have all 23 pairs of chromosomes, and undoubtedly came from two separate individuals. They share 50% of traits but differ dramatically in hair and eye color, similar to what can be found in Fraternal twins —'"

This time Danny shifted. He ran over what she had said in his mind, just to make sure he understood right. "So we aren't exactly the same anymore?" he asked.

"According to this…no, you're not..." Sam slid off the table and patted her friend on the shoulder when Danny looked a little crestfallen. Tucker passed him a picture of the two strands of DNA, magnified over a million times to get a perfect close up. One was colored with this odd green residue and the other only had little pinpricks of goo dotted around the double helix.

"Two different Danny's; one with ghost powers the other without..." Tucker said and shrugged his shoulders.

Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath before standing back up and gathering the documents. "Looks like I better get used to life with both feet on the ground," he quipped half-heartedly, sliding the bits of paper back into the envelope.

"If it makes you feel better," Sam said, "I'm beginning to think you may not need your powers after all." Her glance trailed to the glowing pistol resting on Danny's hip, one of the pieces of weaponry he had taken to sporting when he wasn't in class.

The dark haired boy considered this, trying hard to fight back a grin when he remembered taking on the giant lizard monster yesterday. He had kept it distracted so Phantom could sneak up and hit it with a two handed blast to the back of the head. After fighting alone for so long, it felt nice to be part of a team. Depending on someone else lessened the burden on his shoulders.

There was one critical thing that stifled some of the comfort he could take in his newfound power-free ghost hunting prowess, however. "I still can't fly..." he said, crossing both arms over his chest. He silently lamented over this annoying mobility issue that even now sometimes convinced Phantom to leave him at home.

"Dude, your parents have a lab full of NASA-level tech," Tucker said, gesturing around the empty lab. "They must have some kind of prototype jetpack or something."

Danny stared at Tucker, resisting the urge to slap himself for missing that. Quickly, he ran over all the inventions his parents had come up with in his head, his eyes widening when he remembered a particular one. "No…not any jetpacks...but they did-"

A sudden bang rang out in the lab, cutting Danny's musings short. The impact created a ripple of force from the impact zone, strong enough to knock all three teens onto their collective rear ends. Danny was the first to recover, pulling himself up in time to see Phantom materialize into view. His foot was firmly planted on the chest of Penelope Spectra and the fingers of his left hand were clenched around the lapels of an unconscious Bertrand.

Danny remembered his counterpart mentioning how he was going to investigate the recent losing streak that the local middleschool softball team had been having. Or more precisely, the rash of post-losing depression that was affecting the whole student body. Judging by the red haired ghost that was squirming under Phantom's heel, he had been successful.

Phantom straightened, pulled his arm back and tossed Bertrand across the lab, a wicked smirk passing over his lips when Bertrand's unmoving frame collided with the closed doors of the Fenton portal. Spectra let out a small cry at the rough treatment of her loyal assistant, making Danny question if the normally egocentric spirit did actually care about him.

Both her hands grabbed Phantom's ankle, trying to push him off, but he simply shifted more force onto her. To prove his point he ground his foot into her chest, earning another cry, this time filled with pain.

"All right, all right, you win!" Spectra screamed, her resentment at having to admit defeat almost as clear as what sounded like genuine terror in her tone.

Phantom's dark chuckle echoed around the room, his voice almost two tones deeper than Danny remembered. "We both already know who won. I don't see how that matters..." Phantom charged his hand with energy and grabbed Spectra. The charge spread across her skin and she writhed like she was being electrocuted, screeching loud enough to make the three gawking teens cover their ears.

After a few seconds, the white haired boy released her, and the defeated villain slumped to the floor. Her arms crossed over her black and green tube-top clad chest defensively. After she had recovered enough to speak she turned on Phantom. "I said you won! Just shove me into your stupid thermos already!" Spectra tried to stand up, but the bemused ghost-kid just shot her with his energy beams, making her fall to the floor again.

"Ohh yes, that part..." Phantom poked at Spectra's shoulder with the toe of his boot. "Normally I would, but lately I've been rather curious about whether or not ghosts can die a second time. Since you were kind enough to show up, I've elected you as my guinea pig." Spectra's eyes shot open and she backed away from the boy in the black jumpsuit, disbelief and panic mixing on her face.

Danny's mouth hung open in disbelief as he watched himself act so cruelly. Sure Spectra wasn't the nicest person, but he would never take things that far. He watched his counterpart charge another devastating attack, and suddenly noticed that one of his eyes was a different color. One iris was a deep red, the other the normal green.

Across the room Tucker turned to Sam, "He's not actually going to try to kill her is he?" the techno geek asked, looking at both his friends for reassurance.

Sam started to say something along the lines of 'Danny stop him!' but the blue eyed teen was already two steps ahead. Phantom was just about to let off the fizzling ball of destructive power when he was tackled from behind.

Fenton and Phantom rolled around on the floor, the human desperately trying to restrain the ghost and hoping his counterpart wouldn't think of phasing through him. "Sam, Tucker, the portal!" Danny yelled, locking his arms around what felt exactly like his middle. His friends acted quickly, opening the large metal doors with the keypad and allowing Spectra to grab Bertrand and make her escape.

A few tense seconds passed, and ever so slowly the struggling pair of near identical boys stopped their haphazard wrestling match. Danny rolled them both over and sat on Phantom's hips, pinning two gloved wrists above his head and glaring down into those mismatched irises. Phantom's eyes closed and his head fell back, resting on the cold tile of the workroom flooring. His body relaxed, every tense muscle giving up and offering himself to the mercy of the boy above him.

Danny paused, but after a minute he gradually withdrew, responding to his counterpart's calm behavior. He started to straighten, but two ghostly arms wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him back down into a tight hug. Pressed close, Danny felt rather than heard Phantom moan in what sounded like pure bliss, cold breath ghosting across his neck.

Two sets of footsteps walked over to the pair, and Danny could just imagine the looks of bewilderment on his friend's faces as they saw Phantom nuzzle the hollow of his neck. Suddenly feeling awkward, Danny pushed against the floor, managing to get enough room between them to gently pry Phantom off. The ghost put up a token resistance, but gave in when Danny proved adamant about getting up.

Sitting back on his heals the teen stared at his counterpart, still not sure what exactly had just happened. Lying half curled up, Phantom didn't seem to even notice anything around him. His eyes were half closed, but they were clearly back to the normal shining green. Sam kneeled beside him and waved a hand in front of his face, not receiving so much as a blink in response.

It was a full five minutes before Phantom started to stir again, attracting the attention of the teens who had been trying to piece together what should be done next. Danny was the first to appear by his side gazing down at his counterpart, confusion and worry in his expression.

"Ugh...what happed?" the ghost groaned as he sat up.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Danny said, offering a hand to help the other sit up on the lab bench they had rested his incapacitated form on. "As far as we've seen, you just stormed in here and almost murdered Spectra…"

Phantom looked at Danny like he had grown a second head. "Murdered…" he repeated, his voice cracking. "Is that even possible?"

"You were about to find out," Sam said, placing her hands on her hips and glaring slightly at the ghost-boy. She had more than her fill of evil Dannys over the years and was not about to let another one get the better of her.

Beside her, Tucker seemed to be on a completely different page, adding, "It was actually pretty scary. One of your eyes was glowing that freaky, evil, red color."

Phantom looked from Sam to Danny. His memories slowly returned, causing him to shiver violently. He folded his arms, his shoulders slumping as he looked away like a shamed child. Danny felt his chest tighten; the change in stature from Phantom's noble and unshakable manor was jarring.

Phantom sighed deeply, the kind of sigh that always precedes a long and difficult confession. He gazed into the eyes of his friends for another long moment. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this before," he started sincere sorrow in the words. "The last few days haven't been quite as easy as I was trying to pretend they were... "

Danny was puzzled for a moment and ran over the events of the past week, trying to remember noticing any odd behavior from his ghost self. Instead he realized how little contact he had with Phantom this week. Between school, homework, chores, and mostly fruitless research sessions on ghost and human hybrids, he had only seen Phantom a few hours a day. Even that small amount became less and less as the days passed. A sudden pang of guilt made Danny almost flinch outwardly while inwardly he reprimanded himself for not paying closer attention. How pathetic was it when you couldn't even read your own emotions?

Oblivious of Danny's internal lecture, Phantom continued to explain himself. "Lately I've had these thoughts, like little parasites in my mind...asking me why I even bothered, telling me the people of Amity Park aren't worth the effort I put into keeping them safe…" The ghost pulled his legs onto the desk, withdrawing into his own little defensive ball.

"I told myself that it was wrong of me to even consider, but with every day that passed, they seemed more and more right. I would look down on the buildings while I patrolled, wondering what they would look like if I blasted them. I wondered whether the population would even stop to ask why before sending a military grade manhunt after me…" Phantom's words struck another cord with Danny as these were all fears he himself had dealt with. He understood the traps one could fall into when you didn't keep a positive attitude, but if Phantom's downcast eyes and trembling hands were anything to go by, Danny had a bad feeling his other half had forgotten...

"After that I started getting… " tThe ghost paused, looking for the right word, "numb I suppose... Every time the voice started to whisper, I became less and less upset about it. I couldn't find it in myself to keep caring…nothing was worth it anymore…"

He bowed his head, snow white hair shielding eyes that glowed with just the barest hint of light. He wrapped arms wrapped around his middle, the ghost pulling in on himself like he wanted to fade out of existence. Even Sam, who went to dark poetry readings where disaffected youth lamented the hopelessness of life, had to admit that this was extremely unnerving.

"And it wasn't just negative feelings,." Phantom continued, far too wrapped up in finally admitting his emotions to stop now. "The sunrise I watched every morning while waiting for Danny to wake became less beautiful. The rush of air as I flew through the skies weren't worth the effort it took to move. On one of my patrols I saved this gorgeous girl from a ghost spider. She rewarded me with a kiss—" Sam bristled a bit at this, but neither Phantom nor Danny noticed. "I knew how I should have reacted, but I just didn't care..."

Phantom shivered violently, but then something flashed in his emerald eyes. Something dark that despite the sympathy they were feeling, made the humans take a step back. "You know what the worst part is?" he asked, his tone suddenly sharp. "After a while, I finally found something that I could feel again… " He stepped onto the floor, and when he looked up, a half moon crescent of red had slid its way across the same green iris as before.

"Fighting, revenge, beating all who thought they were stronger into the ground… that was still lots of fun." Phantom broke into another unnerving grin and with a jolt Danny recognised it from the battles he had aided in this week, realizing how he had misunderstood misread what emotions it had been created from.

"Spectra was the first real challenge all week. I enjoyed besting her and that simpering butler…but somehow it wasn't enough…I needed to cause more pain…" A gloved hand formed a fist and the finger's lit up with energy, casting shadows over his face.

"I suppose that's when you stepped in..." The light emanating from his hand went out suddenly and he leaned against the bench. "Thank you for that, by the way."

A long tense moment passed as missing pieces fell into place and the severity of the situation sunk in.

"Am I the only one who thinks this is really fucked up?" Tucker asked the room.

Phantom shook his head. "It's not going to be that much of a problem, we just need..." he trailed off for a moment. His eyes flicked over to stare at Danny, a deep longing in his changing eyes. "I just need my human-self back…" he corrected, "the sooner the better."

Something snapped inside him, and without a word Danny spun around. He marched to the cabinet on the wall, tossing his explanation over his shoulder, "The test results were a bust. We're going after Vlad tonight."

Sam and Tucker looked at each other, but their friend's firm voice discouraged any argument. Danny threw open the doors to the prototype storage unit, locating the Fenton bazooka 2.0. He tested the weight in his hands. Not quite as heavy as its predecessor, but with any luck it would have just as much bite.

"I'll see if I can get the blueprints for Vlad's mansion" Tucker offered, placing his backpack down and pulling a tablet computer from its protective sleeve. He picked another place on the floor and let Sam sit beside him and help him plan the attack. Phantom was already across the room helping Danny with another gun, this one assuredly too big for a sneak attack.

"I still have a bad feeling about this..." Sam murmured, her eyes on the two boys comparing weaponry, both clearly aching for this fight. Sadly, no one gave any indication that they had heard her and Tucker was already asking for her opinion on entrance routs.

**A/N**

**First of all I want to give a huge thank you to Dream Trance for bata reading this chapter for me. (If you noticed things got a whole lot more legible in this chapter then you have her to thank. Quite a few run-on sentences were rephrased, let me say that match..)**

**If you haven't already I would suggest you also go read her own pitch pearl FanFic "_The Suave and the Awkward_" it's a really cute story that explores a lot more of the social elements of the pairing. It also gets to the romance elements right away so I would go there for the cutesy stuff... (At least until I post the next chapter, be excited.)**

**( www . fanfiction . net/s/7606666/1/The_Suave_and_the_Awkward ) - link for the lazy  
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**Okay on this chapter quickly, yes I know I fail biology forever. I needed that week of time to be there and it seemed like a good idea until I realized how little I knew about DNA…**

**Oh, and I should warn you that the next chapter make take a little while. It ended up stupidly long and Trance has a life and her own fic to write.. so we make take a little time to give it a real hard look over before we deem it suitable for public viewing. (Rest assured it's worth waiting for though, trust me~)**


	4. The Final Revelation

**Chapter 4. The Final Revelation**

Sam lowered herself to the grass, concealing herself behind a large bush in the ominous shadow of the embarrassingly large house Danny's parents had once owned in Polter Heights. Beside her, Tucker was tracing his finger over the screen of his tablet, going over the plan with the Dannys and explaining the checkpoints where they were to regroup at. The primary goal was to look for Vlad without alerting him to their presence. Tucker and Sam were to stay hidden and keep an eye out for anyone leaving or arriving while also helping to coordinate the search by acting as mission control.

Fenton Phones were passed around and Tucker synced them into his tablet by using it as a Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing conversation between the four of them. He also pinned small devices to the shirts of Phantom and Danny, superimposing the GPS location onto his blueprints so he could coordinate the events in real-time.

The tension in the air grew steadily worse as they came closer to mission start. Phantom had grown silent, only speaking when it had something to do with the plan. For the fifth time that night, Danny checked over his arsenal, sliding out ecto-clips to assure himself they were still full and checking that all the buttons were set to the correct functions. He tapped at his wrist accessories, confirming that his wrist ray was on the highest setting and making sure the GS-GB was charged and ready to trigger at a moment's notice.

Phantom reached out and took Danny's arm, encouraging him to drop his hand. "Relax…" he said quietly. "I want to blast that fruitloop in the face just as badly, but we need to depend on stealth and it works better when you aren't ready to shoot everything that moves."

Danny sighed in resignation and placed his weapons back in the holders. He occupied himself by preparing the non-deadly parts of his gear, most notably the odd contraptions that he had strapped to his feet.

A flash of light behind her made Sam turn to see that Danny had changed into his white jumpsuit, something he had been doing a lot more regularly before he engaged in combat. Maybe it was a comfort thing. After all, he had been fighting in spandex for quite a few years, and his parents had gotten so used to wearing theirs they almost never took them off. More practically, though, it was probably because jeans are harder to fight in.

"All right, are we ready to go?" Danny asked. He received an affirming nod from Tucker and a thumbs up from Sam. Phantom crawled over the grass to Danny and slid a hand into the dip in his lower back and waited for him to wrap an arm around his shoulders before they took off towards the house, invisible and intangible.

* * *

><p>After an hour of stalking around the darkened and empty halls of Vlad's manor, Danny was ready to blast the next mounted moose head he saw just to get the halfa to come to him. He was getting so sick of the dusty marble corridors and floor after floor of rooms that looked like no one had ever been in them in years. The place was so damn eerie that if Vlad had not been his arch enemy he might have felt sorry for the man living in all this emptiness.<p>

"Okay, only a few more rooms on this side to check and then we can move on to the main wing," Tucker instructed through his earpiece. Danny could picture him watching his little blue dot move from room to room, coloring the Vlad-less rooms in red after he reported it back.

"Why are we even bothering to check all these places?" Danny muttered. "It's obvious no one had been here in years." He opened the door to yet another unused room and fought the urge to stomp his foot on the dusty floor.

"Well you don't want him to sneak up from behind do you?" This time it was Sam's voice filtering through his headphone. "We decided we would sweep the whole house." Apparently Sam had decided that if she couldn't be there to provide backup in person, then she would help by making sure they followed the plan.

Unfortunately for Danny, his ghost half agreed with her. "Just stick with it," he instructed. "The hard part is over, but don't forget to keep your guard up."

The human rolled his eyes dramatically even though Phantom wasn't around to see it. "Like I can forget when you remind me every five seconds..." he muttered, earning a snort from Phantom in response.

The ghost in question was currently waiting for Danny to begin on his half of the main wing. The human moved at a much slower pace than he did, which was understandable when one considered how he could no longer walk through walls.

Phantom settled into a dust-covered chair in the seventh empty bedroom he had come across and kicked his feet up on a stuffed wolf. He closed his eyes, the left of which had gone back to its unnerving shade of red, the only visual clue to the trouble brewing in his mind.

He sat there for a few long moments before he was stirred by Danny's voice in his headset. "Alright, I'm in position for the final sweep," he reported.

"…as am I," Phantom added, floating up from his resting place and moving back into the hallway.

"All right you're cleared to go," Tucker said, "but keep your eyes open. If he's in this house were going to find him soon."

Turning his attention back to the task, Phantom made himself invisible and floated through the rooms, noticing right away that these were much cleaner and more lively than anything he had seen so far. He passed by a lounge with a billiard table and a bar, then a bathroom with a tub big enough for the whole green bay packers football team. Not sure whether to laugh or cringe at that image, Phantom hurried to the next room.

A large library stretched out before him, shelves full of books old and new lining the walls and towering up two levels. Mounted ladders and platforms allowed access to the higher levels. The delicate artwork of the stone, medieval style columns, and family crests decorating the spots not occupied by books reminded Phantom strongly of Vlad's twice-destroyed mansion in Wisconsin.

At the far end of a room, a large fireplace cracked and popped, the orange flame the only source of light in the room. Across from the fireplace, Phantom could just make out a man sitting in an armchair, reading a book he had open on his lap. Not needing another look to know who it was, he ducked behind a bookcase. Raising a hand to his mouth to help muffle the words, he whispered Vlad's location into his microphone. Danny reported back that he was on his way, but to wait till he was outside the door before making contact with the target.

Phantom didn't respond. Instead he unhooked his earpiece and placed it on the shelf. Suddenly, he didn't feel like dealing with those powerless humans anymore. Phantom paused, correcting his thoughts. No not powerless, they were his friends...and he should know better than anyone that you don't need powers to be strong. He leaned against the books, resting his head in his hands as he realized what was happening. The voices in his head had begun their awful whispering again, but this time they were on about more than his misgivings concerning his heroics.

Vlad was one of the most powerful ghosts he had ever faced, just short of the likes of Pariah Dark and Vortex. Even with the rapid growth rate Phantom had shown, there were still tricks the man knew that Phantom had not yet gotten the hang of. Mass over-shadowing was just one of the many he could teach. It was so basic in his mind just then; find those who are powerful and join with them, stamp out all the weaker beings in your path.

_No!_ he practically screamed at himself, the pressing need to be quiet becoming stressful. _I will never join him… not after all he's done, not with the things he's still set on doing…_ Think of the damage the two of them would cause, they could destroy the world if they wanted to.

Or take it over… together they could rule over both the human world and the ghost zone, nothing could stand in their way. He could have anything he ever wanted… Never mind just getting into the space program he could be the one calling the shots. No more would they get snubbed by the stupid government who preferred to channel all their resources into petty wars. In fact, there would be no war... Every country and city on the planet would fly the same flag. Under the vastly superior rule of their halfa betters...

_But…I don't...I don't want that...I want to make it in on my own merits… Everyone should be free to find their own way in life. I have these powers to protect them from harm, not to use them for selfish gain. Look at Vlad, he used his powers for self-serving and look where it got him? Bitter and alone... if I give up on my friends and family… if I give up on Danny…I will live the rest of my life with that longing for something more. _

Phantom remembered the emptiness, he could still feel it on the edge of his mind. It was creeping back slowly, trying to make him forget about everything warm and sentimental he had felt in his life. A white gloved hand grasped at the shelf as Phantom tried to steady himself, pulling back from the tirade of thoughts fighting like wild dogs inside his head. The green of the Fenton Phone caught his eye and he quickly grabbed it again. "Danny?" he whispered as soon as he had shoved it in his ear.

"Almost there. Something wrong?" came the teen's reply, punctuated by the beeping sound of a ghost weapon being turned on.

He hadn't really expected it, but the sound of the human's voice cut some of the mounting tension in the back of Phantom's head. "No, it's fine…" He sighed, but then an idea crossed his mind and he voiced it before he could figure out if it had come from the dark whispers.

"I think it would be best if I go in first. I want to try to distract him." The suggestion seemed to make sense and Danny agreed, also adding that he was in position outside the library door when needed.

Phantom took a second to steady himself, leaning out from behind the bookcase to find a spot where he could draw Vlad's attention that would leave a blind spot to Danny's point of entry. His eyes fell to the fireplace and he launched himself forward. He landed gracefully in a semi-crouch just in front of the hearth, the warmth of the fireplace to his back. He glared at Vlad, waiting for the reaction.

The millionaire in question didn't even look up from his book. He merely leaned back and addressed his new arrival with the casual self-importance befitting a man of his stature. "Ah, good evening Daniel, did you have fun talking to yourself behind that bookcase?" Phantom bristled, but he should have known that Vlad was far too perceptive to be snuck up on.

Not receiving any answer from the boy in the jumpsuit, Vlad continued, "Or should I call you Phantom?" He grinned and finally put the book away. He stood up, his full height no longer towering over the teenager quite so much since the younger had reached maturity. "Should I dare to hope that you've finally come to your senses? Surely now you've been separated from your overemotional human half for long enough to see the error of your ways?" He walked over to the bookshelf, the rhetorical questions hanging in the air for a moment to give the younger time to think about them.

Plasmius and Phantom...Ultimate power...The world in the palm or their hands...Phantom started shaking slightly, clenching his jaw to stop himself from saying anything he might regret. Vlad picked out another book and turned, seeing the shivering Phantom and raising a questioning eyebrow. Then he noticed the mismatched eyes and a wild grin found its way to his normally stoic features.

"Oh this is just wonderful. You're still resisting aren't you?" Vlad practically cackled. He sauntered over to the ghost-boy and cupped his chin in one hand, forcing him to look up into his eyes. "I must say I'm impressed. I would have thought you would have grown sick of playing the so-called 'noble hero' after only a day."

He was very pleased it had turned out this way, now he could watch as the last of that insufferable child faded away from Phantom's mind. "Just give into it little badger…you no longer have to be tied down with all those worries. I've taken away the part of you that would stubbornly refuse the chance of a lifetime out of loyalty to an idiot like Jack Fenton. You and I are the same now. We respect power and those who can use it. Fix the mistake you made years ago and join me..."

Phantom's eyes were unfocused, the shaking had gotten even worse and his head felt like it was about to split open. It was like he was dangling off a cliff, seconds away from one word that would change his life forever. Voices were yelling from all directions telling him to let go. He was so close, just say yes…_Just say yes…_

"Let him go!"

In that moment Phantom almost mistook him for an angel, dressed in white and packing heat that would make Rambo jealous. The ecto-blast that hit Vlad in the back almost sent the halfa careening into the fireplace. Phantom jumped away as if he had been burned, ascending a few feet into the air and looking from Danny to Vlad. A flash of black energy and Plasmius had joined the fray, his pure red eyes falling to the teen holding the still smoking pistol, his anger quickly dissipating when he realized who it was.

"On this is almost too good!" he shouted. "You brought the human along with you? This day just gets better and better..." He reached out a hand and a pink blast of energy shot towards Danny. The teen lifted an arm and the blast ricocheted back towards Plasmius in a flash of green light, bouncing off Danny's ghost shield. "—and he brought some of Jack's useless inventions!" Plasmius added. He went intangible and the blast hit the wall behind him.

"You won't think they're so useless when I shove this down your throat..." Danny growled, reaching back to pat the side of the bazooka on his back.

Plasmius yawned dramatically in response, crossing his arms over his chest. "As much as I would relish the opportunity to dispose of you myself, I think it's more fitting to allow Phantom to finish this. With any luck it will give him closure on his past before he joins me in creating the perfect future."

Danny's eyes narrowed. "You're as nuts as ever, fruitloop. Phantom is not on your side. We're the same person remember?" he insisted, gesturing toward his floating twin. Plasmius did laugh this time, a dark chuckle that provoked Danny into trying another pistol shot, missing by miles as the older halfa dodged.

"On the contrary, my boy. If you looked a little closer, you would see that you are not at all the same…" Plasmius paused. "Well not anymore…and as for being your ally, haven't you noticed how he hasn't come to your aid yet?"

Danny looked up at Phantom and two red eyes stared back at him. The human took a step back, noting the evil smirk that was playing on the ghost-boy's lips.

_I'm sorry Danny…I couldn't hold on…_

Plasmius's satisfaction was almost tangible. He had been waiting for this moment for a very long time and it had been worth every second. However, he was never one to let his long time enemy die without making sure he understood the genius that had been behind it. "You see, Daniel, when I separated you two I used a tiny bit of the other's DNA to stabilize both, resulting in two separate individuals. Phantom is just as powerful as you two were together, but he doesn't have all the parts of you that care for pointless heroics or self-sacrifice. As almost a full ghost, he lives for revenge and power, both things that you are currently getting in the way of him receiving."

Danny lifted his weapon, pointing it from Plasmius to his counterpart. Phantom tilted his head, as if wondering if Danny would have the guts to shoot. The human only had a split second to decide.

He lowered his pistol.

Phantom hit him like a ton of bricks. Pain exploded across his back as he hit the floor. The weight on his chest made the next breath he took short. A gloved fist was raised, ruby eyes blazing as ecto-energy was summoned.

Then Danny's arms wrapped around Phantom's back and he was pulled down. The feel of his other half pressed against him, the smell of his favorite body wash and the pure human warmth. The world spun around Phantom, the sudden rush of so many forgotten emotions overwhelming him and making his brain perform its version of a hard reset. With a single moan Phantom passed out, just like he had done back in the lab.

For a moment no one in the library spoke. Danny and Plasmius stared at the unconscious Phantom both equally dumfounded.

"What in the name of butter biscuit did you do to him?" Plasmius yelled, scanning the teen for some sort of concealed anti-ghost device.

"I… don't know..." Danny responded his attention focused much more on the unconscious body in his arms than on the angry fruitloop. He shook Phantom gently, rolling him over and resting the ghost's head in his lap. Danny brushed the white bangs out of his closed eyes, he considered checking for a pulse for a moment before he realized how stupid of an idea that was. How are you supposed to check if a ghost is okay anyway?

His musings were interrupted when Phantom suddenly jerked awake in his arms. Danny just managed to sit back in time to prevent their heads from colliding. He let go of his ghost half, except for a steadying hand that rested on his shoulders. Phantom kneeled on the floor for a moment, getting used to moving again before he dared force himself back on his feet.

His eyes snapped open, green glowing orbs flicking from Danny to Plasmius. The thought of what he had been about to do to his counterpart hit him and he crossed an arm over his stomach, feeling like he was going to be sick. Across the room Plasmius watched him, suddenly feeling as if he was no longer holding all the cards. He wasn't about to let the boys know that, though, and instead he made an attempt to turn the focus of the room back on himself.

"Ohh… well that's very interesting…I hadn't expected that…" As he had hoped, Danny and Phantom both looked up as he voiced his musings. "Physical contact acting as a conduit for human emotions…Unexpected, but easily rectified." He waited for the reaction to this revelation before he decided on his next move.

However, he hadn't expected the confused looks. Sometimes he forgot that he was working with children. "When Daniel touches Phantom, he returns to the way he was when you two shared a body," Plasmius explained, trying to keep it simple for their small minds. The two boys turned from him to one another. One of Phantom's gloved hands was still holding onto Danny's hip protectively, the fingers only tightening as this new knowledge sunk in.

"This changes little, of course. I just have to get rid of the human half and you're all mine…" Two sharp fangs flashed in a killer's grin before Plasmius casually tossed a razor sharp wave of pink energy at Danny.

"Get down!" Phantom cried reflexively, pushing his human half to the floor, the missile passing millimetres over their ducked heads. The next thing Danny knew the ghost was standing between him and Plasmius, green energy erupting in his own hands.

"Oh yes…you're playing hero again now aren't you?" the older ghost mused. "No matter. Even with you foolishly protecting him, I can still kill one insignificant human." Flying backward to get more range, Plasmius hurled explosive blasts at the pair, one after the other until the floor was covered in a thick layer of dust from chipped stone floors and burned books.

A long moment passed as the clouds dissipated, and when it cleared he was unsurprised to see the two huddled under a glowing green shield. Phantom dropped the defensives and kicked off from the ground, flying into close range and aiming a punch right in Plasmius's smug grin. Before the hit could make contact, his wrist was grabbed out of mid-air, a stab of pain shooting up his arm as it was twisted and pinned behind his back.

Phantom cried out, Plasmius pinning his arms in such a way that he was unable to overpower him. A second later the sound of ghost duplication filled his ears and a single copy of Plasmius was floating in front of them. For a moment he expected the second copy would begin attacking him while he was restrained, but then the older hafa leaned close and whispered "Why don't you and I leave these two alone for a bit?" into his ear.

Without giving the teen time to respond, Plasmius forced them both into intangibility and dragged the younger up and through the roof, leaving his human half alone with the duplicate. Once outside, Plasmius made sure to rise at least fifty feet above the rooftop of his manor, keeping a good grip on his soon-to-be heir. He watched the library windows below with some interest, wondering how much of a fight the boy would put up before he died.

In his arms, Phantom thrashed about wildly. It was quite impressive really how determined he was to make this as difficult as possible. Plasmius even had to use his power to repress the boy's attempts to summon some kind of radial blast or fire an energy ray from somewhere other than his pinned hands. Plasmius sighed theatrically, tilting his head so he could speak to Phantom in that purposefully intimate way, trying to tap back into the side of the ghost that his genetic medaling had unlocked.

"Stop struggling, little badger. The more you resist the more painful this becomes. Can't you see that your human half is pushing these horrid emotions on you?" The arm shoved under Phantom's chin constricted around his throat, tight enough to choke him had he been susceptible to that anymore.

Below them, green and pink flashes of light were visible through the windows of the library. With the sounds drifting up to the floating pair, Phantom and Plasmius watched the terrible fight happening below. The sounds of weapons firing, the negative sounding beep to indicating the need to reload, followed by wicked laughter and cries of pain that sounded so strange coming from far away instead of from Phantom's own mouth.

After giving Phantom a second to take in the destruction below, Plasmius began again, eager to use every chance could to make Phantom's next change of heart arrive even sooner. "You and I know that Danny Phantom doesn't want to risk his neck for the ungrateful population of Amity Park. That's just what Danny Fenton wants. Nor do you need to hide from everyone because you fear ridicule or exile, that's a worry that only Daniel has…"

A loud bang and the slowly mounting pillar of smoke from the library below reminded Plasmius that he would need to get a contractor in to re-do the room after this. He pushed the thought away for now as he added his final lines, his voice dropping even lower to drive the point home.

"And what about when he uses your limitless power to do things like spy on the girls locker room or skip taking the bus to school?" If the situation hadn't been so dire, Phantom would have considered telling Plasmius he actually enjoyed that first one, but he was too distracted by the parts of his mind agreeing with the poisonous words being whispered into his ear.

"Let me go!" the teenager screamed, desperate, throwing all his strength into one quick movement that once again failed to free him.

Unperturbed, Plasmius continued, "He's been taking advantage of you for far too long, but now you no longer have to obey him. In a moment, he will be gone forever and you will be free to join me and put your powers to proper use."

Despite himself, Phantom felt a dull throb of hopeless regret. The darkness in his mind quickly seized it and turned it into the beginnings of resentment_. Maybe Plasmius was right…maybe I don't need that useless huma- _

The whole of Polter Heights was rocked by a cataclysmic explosion. Both ghosts looked down and stared at the ginormous hole that had been formed where the main wall of the library had just been. Pieces of stone, mortar, and ruined books littered the lawn. Some chunks of the former wall were larger than mini-vans and had stuck themselves straight up in the dirt where they landed, utterly ruining the manor's pristine grass.

Among the rubble lay Plasmius's duplicate, his body flickering for a moment before the energy that made him up dissipated. Out of the corner of his eye, Phantom could see Danny standing on the edge of the missing part of the wall, the smoking Fenton bazooka 2.0 resting on his shoulder. Phantom twisted a little to get a look at Plasmius, noting how the ghost's eye was twitching slightly.

Using the element of surprise while he still had it, Danny first tossed the large gun to the side. No doubt it was out of energy after putting it's all into that last blast. Then he reached down to the special devices on his feet that Phantom had seen him strap on before they had left the relative safety of the bush in the next yard.

At the time he hadn't bothered to ask what they were for, but when he saw the flicker of blue flame and the trail of white smoke, the realization left him unable to decide if he should be impressed or horrified.

Similarly, upon seeing the teen rocketing towards them on jet powered boots, Plasmius actually laughed continuing his mirth up until the point when Danny drew up to his level. A wrist ray was pointed squarely at the villain's head. Ten seconds later Plasmius proved to have been right in chuckling as Danny lost his balance on the four miniature jet engines and toppled over backwards, falling to the ground as he struggled to right himself.

A shock of pure and real fear shot through Phantom. The sudden wave of panic added with Vlad's distraction over the apparent hilarity of the situation gave him the chance to break the suppression of his powers.

Plasmius's laughter turned to a shriek as a wave of ecto-energy emanated from the boy in his arms, forcing him to finally let go. Without a second thought Phantom dived, his legs forming into his ghostly tail as he pushed his top speed. A few seconds later gravity kicked in, making it just that much faster.

He reached Danny fifteen feet before the splat that would have put an untimely end to his short life. He wrapped his arms around a white jumpsuit clad waist and then pulled forcefully out of the dive until he no longer felt the extra drag of the downwards momentum.

They floated together in the air for a moment, Phantom clinging to Danny like a five year old to their favourite blanket. Eventually, he backed off and set Danny right on his boots, but still held on to his wrist to make sure he kept his balance this time.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Phantom exclaimed a little too loudly, his green eyes glaring daggers at the human for almost giving him a heart attack when he didn't even have a heartbeat.

Oddly unfazed for someone who had just been falling to his death, Danny caught his breath and gazed back at phantom.

"Just trust me on this one. I've been flying for years and this isn't that different... I can keep it up if you watch my back." Danny's fingers squeezed the ghost's hand reassuringly.

Phantom couldn't believe what he was hearing. They were in a confrontation where the prime goal of the opponent was to kill his counterpart, and the human was doing half the work for him.

Phantom was about to reply with a very clear 'absolutely not', but Danny saw the look and interjected, "If we're going to win we need to work together, just like with Technus." He reached out and rested a hand on the ghost's shoulder.

If the plan hadn't made half as much sense as it did, Phantom would have never agreed. However, his battle trained mind told him that with the advantage they would have together, they would have a much higher chance of getting them both out in one piece.

He reluctantly agreed, nodding his ascension just in time for the moment to be interrupted by a pink energy blast. Fenton and Phantom flew in opposite directions. Luckily, both managed to right themselves and turn back to face Plasmius.

"Can we please get on with the fighting now?" the older ghost inquired, adding an air of tedium to his voice.

Danny reached for his belt, drawing out a small baton and holding it out in front of his chest. With a little hesitation he pressed the button on the side and two blades made of custom Fenton Ectoplasmic Bludgeoning Matter extended from the hilt, forming a kind of staff. He had borrowed this one courtesy of his mother, and with any luck he would be half as good as she was with it.

Phantom gave him a sideways glance that clearly read 'I hope you know what you're doing' and took on a battle stance of his own, summoning his energy to his raised fists. Plasmius raised a hand and took aim, eyes flicking between his two targets before picking one.

* * *

><p>Green and pink flashed across the sky like fireworks as tossed energy bombs exploded, the light fading away for a moment before another charge bathed the stars in the ethereal glow.<p>

On the ground, Sam and Tucker had front row seats to the show, although neither of them seemed to be enjoying the spectacle. The Goth girl in particular was looking more than a little frazzled, her hand had flown to her mouth in shock when she had seen Danny fall and had not yet lowered. Her eyes were open wide as she followed the action above them, visibly tensing whenever one of the two teens suffered a blow from Plasmius.

Thanks to the Fenton Phones, they had a basic understanding on what had transpired before the battle had escalated. Tucker in particular was still shocked that his friend had the tenacity to unload his whole heavy weapon charge into the exterior wall of Vlad's manor. Even though he and Sam had been at a considerable distance when it happened, his ears were still ringing from the explosion. There was no way half of Amity Park didn't hear that one. They had fifteen minutes tops before the fire department, ambulances, and news vans started arriving in droves.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the battle was anywhere near coming to a close. In the air you could just make out the forms of Phantom and Danny circling around Plasmius, who had replicated himself again to deal with the two teens separately.

On one level, you had Phantom who was fighting primarily with his energy and fists like always while on the other, Danny was having harder time as he struggled with the new weapon. Tucker had been around when his friend had practiced with his parents' weapons in the lab, and he knew right off the bat that the double ended staff, while impressive, was definitely a last resort.

Thankfully, it had the added bonus of zapping anything with an ecto-signature that it came into contact with. Danny's hits by themselves may not have been powerful or skilled enough to be painful, but the shock afterward did the trick nicely.

True to Tucker's assumptions, the Plasmius that Danny was fighting had a hard time finding an opening in the boy's defensives. Getting too close earned him a stab from his irritating stick, but ranged attacks were blocked by the ghost shield the boy seemed to have at his beck and call. But Plasmius knew he still had the advantage of unhindered flight.

He drew close again as if he was going to punch Danny, a quick alteration of his movement and he dodged the glowing staff. He swung around behind the teen and shot a ray at his back. Danny grunted in surprise and pain, forgetting his balance again and losing a few more feet of altitude before he righted himself. His blue eyes fixed back on Plasmius as he rebalanced his weapon, silently reprimanding himself for letting his guard down as a way to distract himself from the throbbing between his shoulder blades.

Above him, Phantom had just swung around and landed a blow to Plasmius's chest with a well-timed kick, the force sending his enemy flying backwards. Not giving him a chance to recover, the teen shot forward pulling an uppercut to the jaw that was interrupted when he was punched in the face instead. His concentration was broken as his brain process the unexpected pain and for a moment the world spun, leaving him wide open for Plasmius to attack.

A black gloved hand wrapped around his throat and he was suddenly jerked up. The next thing the ghost knew he was held at arm's length. Plasmius stared at him, his short fangs bared in a scowl that was more than a little unsettling. "Do you remember when I told you that no one says no to Vlad Masters?" the elder ghost growled, his red and white cape whipping around aggressively despite the still night air.

"Yes I do…and as I recall you have yet to follow through…" Phantom retorted, trying and failing to resist the urge to add, "at least you got the cat…"

"It's my sister's cat!" Plasmius snapped defensively, before he realized he was getting off track. Determined to not the let the boy distract him, he moved on to making his point, "I will have what I want, Phantom, you can't protect little Daniel forever. His last breath will herald the coming of a new era, one where hybrids will rule over ghost and human alike."

Plasmius's fingers glowed pink, a large ball of ecto-energy forming in his hand strong enough to destroy a modest building. Phantom tensed, although logically he knew that using it on him at this range would harm Plasmius as well. However, when Plasmius twisted his arm and took aim at the back of the unwitting human fighting his duplicate ten feet blow, Phantom's composed attitude shattered.

Perhaps enjoying this a little too much, the older halfa waited a moment before firing the blast, already relishing in his victory. In that second, the ghost fighting against his hold let lose a cry of rage that soon took on an unearthly tone. Waves of pure force emanated from Phantom's mouth, slamming into Plasmius and throwing the full-grown man like a feather in a hurricane.

Plasmius collapsed on the roof of his manor, kicking up tiles left and right as he skidded across the surface. He finally came to a halt just before the end of the north wing. The defeated Plasmius faded out of existence, exposing the ghost Danny was currently evading shots from as the real thing.

The human was so caught up in blocking the rapid-fire shots that he didn't notice Phantom approaching until his counterpart was pressed up against his still-a-little-bit-sore back. Two black jumpsuit covered arms wrapped around him and took hold of the staff in his hands. Encouraging Danny to move the weapon with him, the ghost lifted it over both their heads and brought it down with the combined strength of human and ghost. The blow caught Plasmius in the chest and sent him hurtling towards the earth.

Sam had just enough time to grab Tucker by the scruff of his shirt and hull him out of harm's way before the bush they had been hiding behind was flattened by falling fruitloop.

Sam activated her own Wrist Ray and pointed it at the fallen villain. Tucker followed suit with Maddie Fenton's ghost utility weapon, pointing the lipstick tube with a surprising amount of authority.

The circle was complete a moment later when Danny and Phantom touched down on the grass, brandishing their weapons and energy laced palms. The four teenagers glared at Plasmius, waiting for him to push himself up and realize they had him surrounded.

"Nowhere to run now, Vald..." Danny explained a little needlessly.

His ghost half almost rolled his eyes at his human half's 'though guy' voice, but they were finally in a position to get the answers they came for, and at this point it didn't matter how they went about getting them.

"Now tell us how to merge me and Phantom back together," Danny ordered.

Plasmius scoffed at him and stood up, making a big show of brushing imaginary dirt off of his caped super villain outfit. "You really don't listen do you? I thought I made it clear that there is no way to reverse it. I can no more merge you two together than I could a pig and an elephant." Plasmius explained, "I designed the process to be permanent on purpose. Even if there was a way, I wouldn't know about it because I would have put in measures to prevent it."

Phantom glanced over at Danny. He could tell right away that this was not the answer he was hoping to get. After battling the fritloop and hearing him gloat about how brilliant his plan was, Danny had to have known there was really no way back, but having it reaffirmed after he had won seemed to finally drive the point home.

Slowly, Danny lowered the weapon in his hands, sighing deeply.

The sound of a familiar siren cut the teen's thoughts like a hot knife through butter, leaving just enough time for him to curse loudly. The Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle tore its way across Vlad's lawn, throwing up bits of grass and dirt with its treads.

The sound soon magnified as other vehicles arrived, one after the other. Amity Park police cars, ambulances, and at least two fire trucks followed up by all the local news vans. The once empty lawn was starting to feel more crowded by the second, and everyone's eyes were on the four teenagers holding the high-powered armaments.

The RV made a sudden turn skidding to a halt and two jumpsuit attired parents leaped from it, their own anti-ghost weapons squarely pointed on Phantom. "Get away from my baby, you ball of putrid protoplasm!" Maddie ordered, cocking her weapon and locking the crosshairs along the white symbol on the ghost's chest.

Danny turned back to the others, noticing with a jolt that Plasmius had used the moment of distraction to escape. Leaving Phantom as the only ghost around to get blasted to bit's by his overzealous parents. This was bad.

The roar of jet engines announced the arrival of the Guys in White, their hover scooters coming to a rest on the ground. Machinegun-style ray guns mounted on the wings beeped as they were turned online. They scanned the area for a moment before they locked onto Phantom, ready to fire on cue.

His blue eyes wide, Danny stepped between his parents and his ghost half. Tucker and Sam followed suit getting close enough on his other side that no one would fire on him for fear of hurting the teens. "Get out of here," Danny hissed to Phantom, just loud enough so he was the only one who could hear.

The ghost wavered for a moment. He really didn't want to leave his counterpart alone to try and explain this to his parents and the government, never mind the news crews and the emergency staff. However, he could also feel the weight of all those eyes and weapons locked on him, and at least Danny wasn't likely to be dissected no matter what judgment came from trying to sort out this mess.

So it was with not just a little bit of regret that Phantom kneeled to the grass and phased through the ground. He picked a random direction and flew in it, counting the seconds till it was safe to emerge again.

* * *

><p>Five long and tiresome hours later, Danny Fenton lay in his bed at home. His eyes were closed as if he was sleeping but it was imposable to know for sure. His chest rose and fell softly with every breath, the bandages that criss-crossed his torso and right shoulder tensing around the skin with his inhale and loosening with the exhale.<p>

Phantom watched silently from the end of the bed. He had only returned a few minutes ago, but had not felt the need to disturb the human. He looked so peaceful resting on his back, one hand tossed over his head, the other crossed over him stomach.

There were a few bruises that were beginning to turn that discoloured shade of purple, including a very prominent one on his shoulder. Considering that Plasmius had not been able to get any close shots to the teen, Phantom could only assume Danny received them when he turned on his human counterpart.

He could still hardly believe Vlad had won him over like that. Looking back on it now, it seemed so wrong…but in those heated moments the lust for power had been so natural and the wellbeing of others had mattered so little…

Phantom knew he wouldn't have been able to free himself from it if not for that shot of pure emotion and honorable purpose he had received when Danny…touched him...

His thoughts trailed off, only to be replaced by this soft aching feeling. He gazed down at the prone form on the bed, wishing more than anything he could just slide in next to Danny and curl up against that warm core. He needed to feel the slow trickle of pure bliss seeping into his veins, reminding him what it was like to be…alive…

As if he somehow sensed he was being stared at, Danny's blue eyes flickered open. For a moment he saw the longing in Phantom's expression, a look he remembered seeing in the lab, right before they had decided to go on that ill-fated mission.

Before he could think more about it, the ghost realized he was being watched back and suddenly tensed. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but the words were lost somewhere in his throat, and he forgot what he had meant to say.

Deciding that he better take the first step, Danny said, "It's alright…everything turned out better than expected, actually."

Phantom blinked at him, obviously not expecting the human to be in such a relaxed mood. "I was sure Mom and Dad would ground us for life…" the ghost replied, sliding off his perch and onto the end of the bed.

Danny half-smiled sleepily at his counterpart. "Are you kidding? Their little boy was caught on inter-national news fighting the big bad Wisconsin Ghost. If anything I think they were kind of proud." The human leaned back on his pillows, adding, "Although they aren't too happy with me teaming up with Danny Phantom to do it…you know, putrid ball of ectoplasm and all…"

His ghost half flinched at that and Danny felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't meant it like that when he said it, but now he realized how Phantom must feel. At least when they had been the same person, he just had to change back into a human to regain his parents' love. Now that he was fully ghost, Phantom could never really go back to their parents without getting a gun shoved in his face.

"What about the Guys in White?" the ghost asked, drawing Danny out of his thoughts.

"Ohh them…" the human said "They wanted to arrest me under charges of being an accessory to Ecto-terrorism..." His counterpart's mouth hung open for a moment. He had no idea what that charge was, but it sounded bad.

Reminding himself that he was supposed to be easing the stress his ghost half was under, Danny quickly added the rest of the story. "Luckily I was able to get between them and Mom…she wasn't too happy about the idea of her baby getting locked up in a jail cell."

Phantom nodded, silently thanking his mother. Even if she was a little overbearing sometimes, it was nice to know he had someone to stick up for him like that…or Danny at least…

"They did ask me a lot of questions. I told them you heard about a planned ghost attack on the Mayor of Amity Park. You knew that the Fentons were friends of the Mayor with a big weapons vault. So you came to ask for help and I was the only one around at the time…" Danny shrugged. It had been the best lie he could come up with on the spot. "Vlad arrived on the scene after I gave my story, so he didn't get a chance to spin it another way."

Phantom nodded, beginning to see how that mess he had been forced to leave behind had unfolded. He crossed his legs and rested his head in his hand, relaxing a little now that his fears over what fate he had abandoned Danny to face alone turned out to be mostly unfounded.

"I'm probably going to have to apologise big time to Sam and Tucker, though…" Danny mused, mostly to himself. "Their parents aren't as happy about them fighting ghosts." Phantom silently agreed. If Sam arrived at school in a flowery dress tomorrow there was be a good chance it was part of her ongoing punishment.

"Also, I had to tell Jazz the truth," Danny added.

Phantom's attention refocused on Danny, his expression taking on more than a little hint of worry. "How did she react?" he wondered aloud, a little hesitantly.

"It was mixed…I think she needs more time to process it," Danny said with a shrug. "She's more interested about how interacting with myself might affect me psychologically. Heck, I may even turn into her next term paper."

"She would have to explain ghost half separation to her professor first," Phantom observed, pleased when his comment drew another half-smile from his counterpart. They lapsed into amicable silence, broken when the ghost found his eyes drifting back to Danny's partially exposed chest. "And the bandages?" he murmured, his mind already filling in the possible injury's that they could be hiding.

Danny looked down and ran a few fingers over the pure white cotton, looking back up before he answered. "The Paramedics wanted to have a look over everyone who was around when Vlad's wall exploded…and they found a plasma burn on my back from when I got careless... "

Phantom remembered Danny's scream from when Plasmius had gotten the shot in. Realistically, in the heat of battle he couldn't have been able to stop it, but he still wished he could take that moment back. Sometimes he forgot ghosts didn't get injured the same way humans did. He had barely any marks from the confrontation, but it would take a few weeks before Danny was fully healed.

Lost in his thoughts, Phantom didn't realize he was gazing at Danny with that look in his eyes again. The other teen did notice, however, and from somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered the one revelation from tonight that he had yet to properly deal with. They might not have found a way to merge back together, but they had found a way to prevent Phantom from slipping back into that dark place he went when his eyes turned red.

The human could clearly remember both the times he had clutched his counterpart to his chest in this very long day, the way Phantom's anger faded at his touch and the way his similar frame relaxed against his. Danny had no idea how something so simple could make such a difference, but there was no denying it worked.

He could see it in how Phantom was tensed, and it was even clearer when the ghost got that pining edge to his gaze. Phantom needed to have more of whatever it was that being in contact gave him. Danny knew what he had to do, but was somewhat conflicted about how he was going to initiate it. Both times he had been under pressure and hadn't had to think twice about it, but now he had to do this consciously.

He offered a hand to the ghost. Phantom looked at it before giving his human half a confused look. Danny sighed, holding his arms open instead. This time his counterpart seemed to get the idea, but for whatever reason he was holding himself back, wavering as if he was unsure if he truly was reading the signals right.

"I know you need it...just come here…" Danny whispered. His tone came across a lot more intimate then he was going for, but before he could feel awkward about that, his arms were full of white-haired ghost boy.

Danny closed his arms around Phantom, and for the ghost it felt like being plunged into a pool of warm water after being out in the cold. He sighed reflexively. Mindful of Danny's injured back, he wrapped his arms around the human's hips. Pressing closer in the semi-darkness of their bedroom, the pair soon ended up lying together. The phantom on the bottom, clutching Danny to his chest like his life depended on it.

The blued eyed male was taking this all in stride. He had suggested it, but he hadn't been prepared for how much his other half would get into this. One of Phantom's hands slipped from his hips and took his own. Fingers intertwined and palms pressed together. Their hands were exactly the same size and fit together perfectly. The same way everything else did…

A chill ran down the human's spine, but he told himself it was because Phantom was slightly cold to the touch, a fact that could not be unanticipated from a ghost. He ran the fingers of his free hand down the tight spandex that covered Phantom's sides, curious if his counterpart would find it as relaxing as he did when someone did it to him.

The reaction came as an appreciative murmur the human couldn't quite hear. He pulled back a little so he could look at his counterpart. Half lidded green eyes gazed back at him, piercing the darkness with their own ethereal glow. Whatever Danny had meant to say was forgotten and instead he rested his head on Phantom's chest.

Mindful of his counterpart's need for sleep but not wanting to let go, the ghost eased the human into a comfortable position, Danny lying on his side, while phantom was more than happy to be used as a pillow. Blue eyes closed and sleep came fast, the long day finally taking its toll on Danny.

Phantom knew he couldn't sleep himself, but as he basked in the warmth that being so close to the human offered, he found his mind slipping away, conjuring up images almost like dreams as he slipped in and out of awareness, the hours passing by like seconds and bringing with them the dreaded morning when he would have to relinquish his hold on Danny.

But for now they were together, and he was going to enjoy every second of it.

**A/N**

***awwwwwwwwwwwww~***

**…anyway~**

**Long chapter is long… but on the bright side this little tidbit marks the end of story arc one. In more broad terms means that this is the end of the "merging back together drama" so we can move on to the new drama… and more importantly romance~**

**Thanks again to Dream Trace who managed to make it through this mess in a week and allow me to purplish it on time~ honestly, if you like this story go give her a hug, because sometimes I think she works twice as hard as I do on it.**

**Also Vlad was vary fun to write in this chapter, I was trying to get him close to how he acts in "Kindred Spirits" AKA the clone episode… because let's face it, this is basically that with splitting switched for cloning. (Because there is no better Vlad than crazy obsessed-over-Danny Vlad~ or at least in my book)**

**Ps. Internet cookies to anyone who caught the south park reference~**

**Pss. Danny's boots are my favorite part of this chapter, screw physics, they can both fly now and I am happy~**


	5. Danyel Phoenix

Chapter 5: Danyel Phoenix

Danny glared at the beaker full of blue liquid as if it was somehow responsible for the way his day at school was ending up to be even more grueling than lasts night's life-threatening battle. He was slumped over the lab bench with Sam standing to his left, scribbling in her notebook. She was likely jotting down her observation that the control test where they hadn't added anything was indeed staying the same.

From all over the room, curious eyes wandered to the black haired male. Whispers passed around, all talking about the same thing. Some eyes would glance away when Danny caught them staring at him, but other times they just kept looking like he was some sort of sideshow freak there to keep them entertained.

Even worse was when his 'admirers' tried to question him on last night. Nine times out of five it was something about Phantom. What is he like? Was his hair a natural white? Did he have a girlfriend? Is it true that his ghost powers make him extra flexible? It was endless and varied on levels of creepiness, depending on who was asking.

Everyone in Casper High had seen the footage from last night, either on the news or on the internet. Since he had forced himself out of bed this morning, Danny had learned that the altercation had been caught on three different cameras. The most comprehensive of the battle was that taken from someone's cellphone. He could tell from the angle that the person who took it must have been passing by the mansion on the street when the fight had taken to the air.

The first of the other two was taken from a security camera in the next yard. It had only gotten partial shots of the action, but had a front row seat when Danny pulled a Jack Fenton on Vlad's wall. (He maintained he was only aiming for the ghost when pressed by any adults about it, even if that wasn't strictly true.) The last shots were far away footage from a proper TV camera, so you ended up with high quality flashes of light and barely discernible outlines of the combatants.

All in all, there was just enough evidence to tell that a battle had indeed happened, but not enough to work out any of the details, resulting in endless rumors and even more endless questions. He had tried stressing to those who asked that he and Phantom had just been fighting together, but for some reason, everyone seemed disinclined to believe him.

The worst had been when he ended up cornered by both Paulina and Valarie at lunch, both seeking information on Phantom, to win his heart or to find a weakness to destroy him with respectively. In the end, he managed to slip away and spend the rest of lunch hidden behind a tree in the back field, enjoying his brake from the spotlight while it lasted.

Biology was the last period of the day, but Danny was so out of it by now that Sam didn't even try to get him invested in the experiment they were supposed to be recreating. She reached out and plucked the tube in front of Danny from its holster, saving it from her friend's misdirected anger, and passed it to Tucker.

They were currently testing how saliva breaks down glucose, and she was not about to be the one to provide the spit sample. That was the advantage of having male friends. Leaving Tucker to it, she poked Danny lightly in the arm, just to make sure he was still alive.

The teen grunted and sat up, following Sam's pointed finger to his untouched lab report. He sighed and picked up his pencil as she placed her work next to him so he could copy the numbers she had recorded. It didn't matter how out of it he was, work still needed to be done. As he slowly wrote out the numbers, Danny wondered if he wouldn't be happier fighting Vlad again. Sure, the burn on his back was killing him, but at least it was interesting…

* * *

><p>As it happened, Danny wasn't the only one stuck in a rut after last night's events. Across town, his feet dangling over the edge of the tallest skyscraper in Amity Park, Phantom was moping with almost as much conviction as his human counterpart, albeit for completely different reasons.<p>

He had been forced to abandon his human half early in the morning for fear of a parent walking in on him with his arms around Danny. The prospect was the last thing he needed, especially now that he knew his sanity, and to a lesser extent, the fate of the world rested on him having ready access to the other teenager.

He didn't know exactly what his parents would do if they thought Danny Phantom was messing with their son, but he could only imagine them locking Danny in the Spector Deflector or in the house with the ghost shields up. Ether situation was bad news, and the reality would likely be far worse. It was better to play it safe…

But even though he had told himself this same story many times, it still didn't make having to leave or having to sit here on his own any easier. He had never realized before how boring his life would be if he became full ghost.

Permanently in Phantom-form, he couldn't go to school, hang out at the mall or laze around his room. At least not without getting kicked out, swarmed by fans, or blasted and dissected. Even outside he had to watch his back for passing news copters looking for an interview, or other ghost hunters who didn't consider him any better than a rogue spectral malefactor.

Of course these little complaints were just hiding the bigger issue, which had everything to do with the six hour wait between now and when he could wrap his arms around Danny's slender hips. Phantom rested his head in his gloved hand, glaring out at the sunny city skyline, wishing he could make the glowing yellow orb move faster across the sky.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice a pair of black boots touch down on the roof behind him. Plasmius drew back into the shadows cast by the radio tower on the tip of the building, peering out for a moment to make sure his target was still gazing off into the horizon. Slowly, he drew closer to the boy, a self-confident swagger in his steps.

When he still wasn't noticed, however, he purposefully stepped on a loose roofing tile, enjoying how the soft cracking sound made the other ghost practically leap out of his skin in surprise. He whirred around, falling into a fighting stance and lifting his fists, green eyes glaring at his nemesis

Plasmius raised an eyebrow at the tense teenager, crossing his arms over his chest. "Easy, Phantom, I do not wish to fight. That would be a waste of both our time and power," he explained, patiently waiting a moment for his words to sink in and for the younger to let his guard back down.

Phantom touched back down on the roof, his own hands resting on his hips and his foot tapping on the roof to show his annoyance over the other's presence. He was not in the mood to fight either, but he wasn't about to sit around having small talk with the man who caused this whole mess.

"What do you want this time?" the ghost-boy demanded, reminding himself to not take anything his enemy said to heart. He was sick of Vlad's manipulation, and he wasn't going to subject himself to more if he could help it. Sadly, he knew that flying away wasn't an option when Vlad could fly just as fast. Better to pretend to hear him out and hope he went away soon.

"Oh, nothing much," Vlad began, almost too casually, "it's just we didn't have time to talk properly after the fiasco yesterday, and I wanted to clear the air." Vlad shifted a little on his heels, drawing a little closer to Phantom, but keeping the normal distance you would expect for a polite conversation. "You see, I don't want you thinking that minor setback was the end of this…"

Phantom bristled. This was exactly what he had been expecting this conversation to be about. Sighing, he turned his attention away from Vlad, waiting for him to get on with it already. The villain didn't seem to notice the inattentiveness of his audience however and continued, "I can be a patient man and I have no doubt you will come to me eventually…"

"I won't," the younger ghost interjected. "Danny and I will never allow it." His green eyes shifted to glare at Vlad, his shoulders and posture stiff, showing his confidence in the belief.

The elder shrugged it off, his smirk unwavering as he replied, "Ah, your misplaced bravado just shows you're just as foolish as you've ever been. You must have been spending a lot of time with Daniel for that to sink in so well."

Phantom growled softly under his breath. He liked Vlad's backhanded insults to Danny even less than the ones made about his father. Whatever tricks he was trying to use to win him over, they were clearly no longer working now that he had more alone time with Danny.

Vlad was pacing a little around the roof as he mused aloud to the younger, but after a moment he stopped and his grin widened a bit, his voice dropping into a more ominous tone. "…But my boy, what you fail to account for is that, unlike you, young Fenton has family, friends, a life…he can't be there for you every waking moment, especially since Maddie and Jack are still very set on tearing the rouge ghost-kid apart molecule by molecule…"

Unlike the others, that observation stung, stupid fruitloop always knew how to poke at the tender spots. "He doesn't have to be," Phantom shot back defensively. "I still have enough free will that I won't fall for your tricks."

"Oh yes, I'm sure you do…" Vlad replied, leaving Phantom unable to tell if he was being sarcastic. He turned his back on the younger and walked to the edge of the roof, pleased for now with the seed of doubt he had planted.

He looked back over his shoulder at the white-haired teen, tossing his final words back so they could hang in the air, "You know where to find me should you change your mind..." A second later and he was gone, flying back to Town Hall to plot some other evil scheme, or maybe actually do some of his job as mayor.

Finally alone, Phantom glared angrily into the distance. He didn't know who he was more annoyed by, Vlad for forcing him to confront difficult truths, or himself for actually listening. Still, the problem was on his mind, and if there was something that could be done about it, now was the time.

He settled back onto the roof, crossing his legs and resting his hands in his lap. There had to be a way he could stay close to Danny, not just so he could press himself against the human when he started to lose his focus, but also so he could protect the teen. Vlad had tried numerous times last night to kill Danny, and he would more than likely try again if he was given the opportunity.

He could follow his counterpart around invisibly, but it would take a toll on his energy supply to remain like that for long periods of time, day after day. If Vlad sent something significantly powerful after Danny when Phantom's powers were weak, he might not be able to fight it off, even with the human's help.

The ghost slammed his fist into the roof tiles in frustration, pulling back his hand with a curse when the move earned him a bruise across the knuckles. He glared at his gloved hands, wishing he could still turn human. Then he would be able to go unnoticed and this would be simple.

He blinked, suddenly realizing the solution had been staring him in the face the whole time. A flash of white light erupted from his center, and the gloves vanished. Phantom stood and checked over the changes to his body. With any luck, he looked normal enough in this form to pass as a human. It would require some adjusting so he wasn't instantly recognizable as the hero of Amity Park, but it could be done.

Glancing back up at the sun, he decided it was late enough for Danny to have returned home. He changed back into his full ghost form and ran to the edge of the roof, throwing himself into the afternoon sky. He would pitch the plan to Danny as soon as he arrived.

With a little creative use of his powers and Tucker's hacking prowess, they could get him enrolled in Casper High by the end of the week. Then he could work out how he was going to carve himself a new life in this city. He took a deep, needless breath and forced a smile on his lips. Things were going to work out all right after all.

* * *

><p>Danny leaned back in his desk chair, glancing across the room at Phantom, who was sitting on their bed his green eyes closed, as if he was lost in thought. Tucker was crashing on the beanbag chair to his left, tablet computer resting in his lap as he tapped away at an old school game of space invaders.<p>

Deciding conversation wasn't likely at this point, the teen reached over to his desk and picked up his copy of 'Brave New World'. He needed to finish reading chapter seven before he could answer any of the questions Mr. Lancer had assigned for homework.

He started reading the next page, but the words were coming off empty. He read the text, but his brain wasn't putting them together into a chain of events. It might as well have been written in French for all he was taking away from it. Frowning, he put the book back down, admitting that he was far too tense for reading at the moment.

He sat for another moment in silence before he got fidgety again and started pushing against the floor with the toes of his sneakers. Swinging himself left and right gently before pushing off harder and spinning around on the rotating axis of the chair. He spun a few times one way, then some the other way. Then he kicked off extra hard and pulled his feet up to reduce the drag, spinning a full six times before coming to a halt.

"You're going to make yourself dizzy if you keep that up," Phantom warned, one of his glowing eyes half opened as he observed his counterpart's behavior.

"I know." Danny shrugged and grabbed his desk, using it to push off from. He spun for twice as long this time, partially due to hugging his knees close to his chest, thus removing even more air resistance.

"Okay let me rephrase that, you're going to make me dizzy if you keep that up." Phantom half-chuckled, turning to face the now slightly disoriented human.

"Well you don't have to watch me…" Danny reminded him, although he didn't reach for the desk to do it again.

The ghost smiled softly, and even though it was against his better judgment, he voiced the rebuttal that drifted into his mind, "But I like watching you..."

Danny blinked at the other teen and was about to reply when he was interrupted by the door opening with a bang. Sam entered the room, dragging with her a few large shopping bags, each with different store names and logos printed on the side.

She dumped them all on the bed in front of Phantom, walking back to shut the door behind her before dropping her own backpack on the floor. She stooped down for a moment and pulled a notebook and a pen topped with a little rubber bat from her bag.

"Afternoon, boys. Ready to get to work?"

Danny and Tucker both looked to Phantom, who nodded slowly in response. He reached over to the bags on the bed, but the tip of Sam's pen swatted his hand, and he jerked it back, blinking at her.

"First we need to work out what name you're going to go by," she informed him, "and then I can go over how the outfit looks." She settled beside the ghost and flipped open her notebook. Danny wheeled his chair over, not wanting to be left out of the conversation. Tucker followed suit a few moments later.

"So then, have you got any ideas?" Phantom inquired, leaning over Sam's shoulder so he could see the notebook.

"A few, but after looking them over, I think that it's best if we go with what you know…" the pen moved over the list of names, most of them starting with Da or Dan. She circled her choice and showed it to the ghost, letting him read it out loud.

"Danyel?" he mused, looking over to the other two boys for reactions.

"Umm Sam?" Tucker asked, looking up from blasting an 8-bit alien with a few pixels. "Don't you think that's a little bit too similar?

"Not exactly," Sam replied, turning her notebook for the other's to see. "This version is spelled with a 'Y'. It's a trendy remix of the name."

Danny read over the slightly odd spelling, before looking to his counterpart, nodding as if to show he approved.

"It's a good idea," Phantom decided. "I was worried I might forget to respond to my own name, but not making up a new one up will help." This seemed to make sense to the three other teens. Pleased in her ability to decide on fake names, Sam wrote it again at the top of a new page.

"What about a last name?" Danny asked. "We can't use Phantom, especially not when the first name is so similar." He started spinning a bit on his chair again, ignoring the look he received from the ghost-boy.

"Well, I have an idea for that too and it matches the first name well…" Sam paused as she flicked a few pages, stopping and laying her pen-tip down on another name. "How do you feel about Danyel Phoenix?" she offered, addressing the boy with pure white hair.

The ghost raised an eyebrow at her, but stopped to consider it for a moment. Tucker on the other hand was a little more vocal. "Isn't that a little pretentious? It sounds like something a wanna-be celebrity would name their kid…"

"Exactly," Sam said, "that's why Danyel Phoenix is an exchange student from Los Angeles, all the way across the country where no one can easily go to ask questions." The males grudgingly agreed. It did sound like the name of a Hollywood kid, and if they were going to go for a place in America, California was the best option.

She wrote the name out in full and underlined it a few times. She placed the book down and reached into the second smallest of her shopping bags. Pulling out a harry lump bound together with black netting, she fiddled with it a little, removing little bits of plastic and string and fluffing it with her fingers.

Once she was satisfied with how it looked she presented it to Phantom, holding it upright so he would get a better idea of how the blond wig would look when it was on his head. "I figured blond was about as far away from Danny's hair color as we could get," the Goth girl explained, gesturing for Phantom to come closer so she could test it out.

A brief flash of light, and then a slightly normal-looking human settled down in front of her. She reached back over to her bag and grabbed a black and purple brush. The ghost winced a little as she ran it through his white bangs, pulling them back and pinning them there with a few clips. "You're going to need to learn how to do this yourself eventually," Sam said as she placed the front part of the wig over his forehead and pulled it down all the way, tucking in any stray ivory hairs.

Sam sat back and let him stand up and wander over to the mirror on the other side of the room. He glanced at the boy with messy bleach blond hair and vivid green eyes reflected in the glass. "Do I look any different?" he asked, turning around to face Tucker and Danny.

The technology geek looked from Danny to Phantom comparing the two identical faces but clashing hair and eye colors. "Well, it does take you a second look to notice the similarities, and don't forget we are trying to fool the same town that could never put two Dannys together in the first place. So, yes I think this will work." Tucked looked back over the clothes Phantom was sporting and added, "But we're going to need to get him a new outfit…unless he's posing as the biggest Phantom fan in the world."

Sam nodded in agreement. She opened another one of her bags and pulled out a few pieces of clothing she had picked out for the ghost. "That's exactly what I was thinking," she said, holding up a warm and soft looking hoodie. Pure black until you reached the shoulder area, where it changed to a pure white that ran down both sleeves. She tossed it to Phantom, who looked at it for a moment before he pulled it over his head, careful not to dislodge the wig as he did so.

Once it was settled over his shoulders, he unzipped the front a little bit, but not enough to show off the logo on the shirt underneath. Sam jumped off the bed and walked over to phantom, circling around him a few times as she evaluated her own taste in clothes. "Call me biased, but I think black works for you." She smiled, tucking a loose strand of blond hair behind the ghost's ear.

Feeling a little left out, Danny strayed from his place across the room and over to Phantom, a little surprised by how a few basic changes could have so much of an impact. He looked over what seemed like a completely different teen…and not a bad looking one at that…If Danny hadn't known better, he would almost have been jealous.

Sam reappeared suddenly, her arms full of t-shirts, all in different variations of white on black, including a very stylish one with a wing design over the shoulder blades. She grabbed Danny by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him back to his chair so Phantom could try them on.

A few costume changes later, Sam dug into Danny's wardrobe and picked a pair of jeans, quickly deciding that like his human counterpart, they would be the go-to for the bottom half of all his outfits.

"Oh and one last thing." Sam reached into the smaller of the two bags and passed what looked like a belt to Phantom. "I found this little baby for sale at Hot Topic." She grinned, enjoying the look of surprise on the ghost's face when he saw what was so special about it.

The buckle of the belt was made of a shiny white metal and was shaped into a perfect replica of the symbol Sam had designed for his suit. While the logo on his shirt may have been too much of a giveaway, this smaller piece had the feel of an object worn to look like you were up to date on the latest trends. It would fit nicely in with his LA teen wardrobe.

"Who the heck approves this stuff anyway?" Phantom muttered, realizing this was likely one of the many products sporting his image that he had no say in whatsoever.

"I don't know dude, but whoever does must make some serious cash," Tucker observed. "Just be thankful they haven't gotten around to Danny Phantom breakfast cereal..."

The ghost chuckled at that, sliding the belt around his hips and fastening it at the front. Looking over the finished outfit in the mirror, he slumped his shoulders and gave his reflection his best disaffected scowl, trying his best to look like the trendy teen he was impersonating.

Sadly, his reflection told him he looked closer to constipated than cool. He dropped the pose, suddenly feeling rather hopeless about this whole situation. There was no way he could pull this off, and even if he did, what would it accomplish? No matter how he dressed or what he wore, he would always just be a ghost trying to fit in with humans. His smile slipped and his shoulders fell for real this time.

Then his eyes widened and he realized what was happening. He turned around and locked his eyes on Danny, who was making another attempt at reading his book as he waited for Sam and his counterpart to finish playing dress up.

Phantom practically pounced on the human and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. He tried not to get in the way of Danny's reading as much as possible, but in the end it was too hard to resist nuzzling his neck. He stayed there a moment, relishing the unique and to him almost intoxicating scent that hung around the human. Phantom knew Danny didn't use cologne, and he didn't recognize it as the scent of his body wash, so he could only assume this was what the human smelled like naturally.

Phantom turned his head a little, his lips pressed against the warm skin of Danny's collarbone. This time he managed to hold in his groan of relief as warmth poured into his ghostly core. Slowly, his doubts were pushed back and his hopes restored.

The human tensed for a moment. Oddly enough, the first thought entering his head when he was hugged from behind were that the blond hairs tickling the back of his neck didn't feel artificial at all. The second, more logical thoughts were all about the eyes of his friends observing the gesture. He knew they understood why Phantom needed to do it, but it still felt awkward for him to do it in front of them.

"Ummm…Tucker, how is getting Phantom into the student exchange program going?" Danny asked quickly, trying to shift the focus away from his counterpart, who, to the human's dismay, had given into his desire to part his lips and taste his counterpart's skin, starting to lightly kiss and nibble the area where his right shoulder met his neck. A tingling sensation crawled up Danny's spine, no doubt having everything to do with the ghost's busy lips and tongue.

Thankfully, their audience didn't seem to notice. Tucker turned back to his tablet, the fingers of his right hand tapping the on-screen keyboard as he filled out the needed data fields. "Piece of cake. I'm almost done fabricating seventeen years of school history. Any preferences for your kindergarten marks?"

The question was directed at Phantom, but he was a little too preoccupied to respond so Danny stepped in for him. "Just make it average. We don't need anything that could draw any unwanted—ahhha…attention."

Tucker nodded, seemingly ignoring the little crack Danny's voice had taken on. He wouldn't have been able to tell, but the momentary lapse of concentration had happened right after Phantom found a sensitive spot on the human's neck. Tucker returned to work, and Danny silently thanked him for not making any smart comments about his counterpart's slow but enthusiastic attempt to eat his human half.

A few awkward moments passed, and then Tucker remembered something else he needed to ask his friend and turned back to him. "There's one problem, though. Computers are easy to fool, but humans with functioning brains are a little bit harder…" Phantom looked up from the soft skin of his human self, sensing that this next part was too important to miss, even if it meant forgoing his neck nuzzling for now.

"Bottom line, Phantom needs a host family," Tucker explained, glancing from one Danny to the other. "I can fake all the forms I like, but someone is going to eventually start wondering where he is staying. Not to mention the guidance counselor is supposed to make weekly visits to ensure he's in a suitable environment."

"He'll say with us..." Danny said, his brain not quite applying logic in time before he blurted it out.

Sam looked him from across the room where she was unpacking the last of Phantom's new outfits. "And how are we going to swing that? Your parents aren't enrolled in the program. Not to mention that with a lab full of weapons I doubt this place would pass the safety inspection," she pointed out, addressing the vary flaws the dark-haired boy would have come up with himself if he stopped to think about it for a few minutes.

Danny rolled the problem over in his head this time and came up with an at least half-baked plan. "Simple. Tucker can do the paper work and make sure they are top of the list for possible hosts. Then when they phone to ask about taking him, I'll make sure Phantom is nearby so we can guarantee they say yes. "

The technology geek nodded in agreement. "Overshadowing it is then," he quipped, pulling up the forms he would need to make it happen.

Sam, however, looked far less convinced, the corners of her purple glossed lips pointing down in a slight frown. "Aren't you worried about getting caught? Bumbling or not, your parents are professional ghost hunters."

"They're also the ones who couldn't figure out that their son was the ghost-kid even after three whole years," Danny retorted. "As long as Phantom doesn't forget to use doors and keeps both his feet on the floor, we should be fine." The human gave his counterpart a look that made Phantom glance down, noticing that he was indeed floating a few inches above the floor. He set himself back down with a sheepish grin, and Danny nodded "See? This won't be that hard."

Sam sighed, realizing arguing would be pointless for now. She knew all too well how stubborn her friend could be when he set his mind to it.

Instead, she occupied herself by grabbing the green-eyed ghost and pulling him back over to the bed for his first lesson on how to properly brush his new false blond locks. The ghost pouted slightly as she messed around with his hair, but didn't make any verbal objection beyond a few slight grunts when the fake hair was pulled, making the wig rub uncomfortably against his real hair.

He wanted to suggest taking it off before brushing it, but Sam had proven herself a master with wigs when she had managed to produce a perfect replica of Danny's black hair under considerable time restraints, and Phantom wasn't about to second guess her judgment on this.

Instead, he contented himself with gazing across the room to where his human half had finally settled down to do his reading. Bright blue eyes scanned the pages slowly, his slender form draped over the chair with his feet up on his desk. The angle he was sitting at made his shirt ride up a little, showing off just enough of his flat tummy that Phantom could see the small inwards curve of his belly button.

Green eyes half-closed as the mind behind them pictured the moment tonight when they would both be alone and he could wrap his arms around that delectable tummy and those captivating hips. Just thinking about it brought a look to his face that usually prompted a reminder from Sam not to accidently drool on her tofu soy melt.

If Phantom had still been properly connected to his human emotions, he probably would have recognized this pure lust for what it truly was, but in his mind there was little room for anything but the slow line he was drawing up Fenton's flexible legs.

His wonderful train of thought screeched to a halt as the backside of a brush came down with some force on the back of his head. "Are you listening?" Sam asked a little peeved at being ignored so readily. Phantom apologized and tuned back into her lesson, reminding himself there would be plenty of time for thinking tonight when Danny slept in his arms.

A/N

**Credit (and blame) where it's due … the belt buckle and the last name Phoenix was all Dream Trance's idea (I swear)... She picked it out from my list of PH names and insisted Phantom keep his symbol somewhere.. and it seemed like the least obvious place to put it.. (This is what happens when you bounce all your ideas off your beta reader..) **

**Speaking of Dream Trance, I want you to know she worked extra hard on this chapter after I pulled 4 away from her too soon and it ended up having 3 errors. (don't tell her I said this but she's she kind of crazy about this editing stuff.) Anyway, thanks so much to her, without her I wouldn't be able to keep posting at this rapid rate~**

**As for the story…**

**And thus begins a tone shift littered with slightly overused plot devices. Most notable the dressing Phantom up part.. I know everyone else and their cat likes to play "dress up Danny" in fanfics… I should know better but I couldn't resist.**

**Also the transfer student thing has been used more than a little bit.. But needed to put some soft fluff in to make Danny and Phantom's transition into lovers smoother and it seemed like something I could work with.**

**Ps. I apologize big time if any readers are from LA because from now on I'm going to be stereotyping the heck out of your city… **


	6. Incest or Masturbation?

**C****hapter 6: Is that closer to incest or masturbation?**

The early morning sun filtered through the skylights of Amity Park's domestic airport, illuminating the empty spaces housing the essential parts of human air-travel. The conveyor belts in the baggage claim hall squeaked softly as they turned along the circular path. The room was mostly empty save for a few groups of people, all of them with their eyes set to the large double doors that separated this area from the arrivals and departures area behind the security checkpoint.

One of these groups consisted of two teens and two jumpsuit clad adults, obviously a family making a pickup from the next flight in, albeit a family where one half of the members dressed oddly.

For their part, Jack and Maddie were rather excited to meet the boy they would be looking after for the next few months. Jack for one was looking forward to training a new ghost hunter, and he had already planned his introductory speech and what weapons he would show off.

Meanwhile, Maddie's thoughts were more centered on her hope that Danny would become friends with their guest. She had always been a little worried when he never made any contacts outside his childhood favorites, Sam and Tucker. Not that she would ever think that they weren't perfect friends for Danny, but she felt you should always look for opportunities to form connections with new people, especially in the teen years when so much focus was on social behaviors.

Although she still couldn't remember filling out any of the paperwork to be a host family, Maddie was glad they had. She had a good feeling about the overall outcome of this little deviation from normal family life, and time had taught her that gut feelings were rarely wrong. The mother glanced over at her son, ruffling his black hair playfully, making sure to brush it back afterwards so he looked his best for when the transfer student arrived.

Danny didn't take much notice of his mom; he was far too preoccupied with his own thoughts. In fact, if you listened closely you could practically hear the sound of Danny Fenton's brain racing a mile a minute. His fingers were clenched around the back handle of a luggage cart, his eyes taking in the area around him with the dull unfocused look of someone completely out of it.

From her place on his other side, Jazz glanced down at her little brother with no little amount of concern. You could almost see the dark cloud of stress hanging over his head. His whole body was tense, even as he slumped over the handlebars of the empty push-cart. All communication attempts were met with soft answers, if any at all.

It bothered her to no end to see him worked up like this, but in a way she couldn't blame him. It was less than five minutes before the plane that was supposedly carrying Casper High's newest transfer student would arrive. The moment of truth he, Sam, and Tucker had been planning was finally at hand.

Phantom was likely already waiting just beyond the arrivals gate with the suitcase Sam had lent him, waiting to blend into the crowd of arriving Californians as they migrated to baggage claim. Jazz had been around when the two halves of her brother parted ways less than two hours ago, just after going over the last rundown of how the situation at the airport would—hopefully—play out.

It was the first time Jazz had been allowed to see both of them together since her slightly battered brother had been driven home from his fight and had seen fit to tell her the real story behind the altercation. Initially, she was worried for Danny of course, but as she questioned him about this strange turn of events, one thing became evident to her observant psychologist's mind, namely, the fact that Danny was the same… exactly the same in fact. He seemed to have suffered no mental trauma from being split in half. (Well no worse than any other run-in with Vlad would cause.)

In fact, by the end of the conversation she was more concerned about the injuries he would likely suffer if he tried getting more answers out of Uncle Vladdy than about the possibility that he and Phantom were unable to become one again. Her logical mind told her it was just another new twist to the series of weird things that happened in Danny's life.

Knowing the nature of her analytical brain, Jazz should have seen this next part coming, but now that her concerns were out of the way, she had become interested in how he would adapt to the split. Even before, she had kept a special notebook filled with details on Danny's mental state as he slowly grew into his powers and the responsibility that came with them.

However, the work she had done analyzing her brother's hero complex was nowhere near as monumental as the detailed research on how a teenage boy would interact with himself. In fact, she had already picked out another notebook for it and had filled out the first five pages.

Still, she couldn't let herself get too caught up in the excitement of having such a unique opportunity. Danny was her brother first and a case study second. She was keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't succumb to any form of breakdown or identity crisis; the notes and the subsequent bestselling novels they would become were the secondary objective.

Satisfied with her own rationalization, Jazz allowed herself a few moments to review what she had observed already. She knew for a fact Danny had been just as tense and nervous all morning. She could only assume it was anxiety getting the better of him, but something in her intuition told her it was more than that.

As for the half of her brother who had been dubbed "Phantom," he was something else entirely. Danny had been intent on stressing how similar they were when he had first explained it, but when she saw them standing side by side she had to disagree.

While her brother was clearly agitated, the ghost had been overwhelmingly placid. He displayed little outwards emotion besides a noticeable need to be close to his counterpart whenever possible.

Jazz knew for a fact that the brother she knew was rarely that calm. Danny had a flare for the dramatic, evidenced by the repeated shouting of his beloved battle cry and his enjoyment of cracking witty banter (and horrible puns). While Phantom no doubt still had that talent, it seemed to be downplayed in his personality, replaced by a more pragmatic way of thinking and an eye for details.

She had noticed it most when Danny had been helping Phantom with his white locks, trying to get the outfit ready for its first real test. The black-haired male had gotten stuck trying to pin down a particularly stubborn bit of hair. He couldn't quite get the little bit of metal to stay in place for more than a few seconds. He had fiddled madly with it, swearing slightly under his breath at each failure.

After a few more popped hairpins, the ghost boy had reached up and taken hold of Danny's wrist. The human flinched a little but didn't pull away. Grinning, Phantom had guided his hand, encouraging him to give it a slow twist while pushing it and this time the pin stayed there perfectly. Phantom's smile came off with the tiniest bit of smugness. Danny humph-ed in response. He slid off the bed and made to get up, but was stopped by a soft tug on his arm.

Jazz wasn't sure exactly what had happened between the two of them next. She remembered seeing Phantom leaning closer to her brother until their noses were scant inches apart. Danny responded with wide-eyed surprise and pulled away quickly, his nervous behavior suddenly redoubling as he retreated over to his desk to grab his backpack.

She had underlined the description of those events in her notebook, along with a few theories of what the emotions behind that move could have meant. She wasn't about to assume anything after only one observation, but it was a good place to start.

Above her, the flight status board flashed and the word "arrived" appeared in green next to the flight number the collective Fenton's were keeping an eye on. Danny tensed even tighter, and Jazz resisted the instinct to pat him reassuringly on the back, not wanting to rick setting of an involuntary (and potentially painful) reflex from her jumpy brother.

Instead she leaned closer to catch his eye and gave him an understanding smile. Danny sighed deeply and looked away. He didn't want to seem ungrateful but he knew his sister had no idea what was really going on in his head at the moment. The fact that she had not insisted on having a very serious conversation on the possible mental trauma he might cause himself was evidence to that.

Danny didn't like keeping things from Jazz. Especially not after she had gone to such great lengths on so many occasions to keep his biggest secret, but this time it was about more than his own safety. He Just couldn't bear the thought of anyone finding out. It was just too personal... too complicated… too utterly insane...

The flow of travelers, many of who were slightly tanned from the California sun, began to enter from the one-way-only doors at the far end of the room. Danny saw a few surfers, some elderly men in flower print shirts, two families with kids dressed in Disney Land t-shirts, and the odd businessman.

Then he spotted one rather lonely looking teenager out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw that the attention he was giving was being returned with twice the intensity. Green eyes met blue and the corners of his counterpart's mouth twitched into a grin. Danny's stomach twisted. He had expected this moment to be stressful, but for completely different reasons.

He had last seen the other teen only a few hours ago, but just the sight of him still had his traitorous mind dragging up events from the night before, making him re-live it all over again, refusing to push the memories aside, not even for fear of his parents seeing through Phantom's fake wig and clothing change.

Danny hardly noticed as the disguised ghost-boy made his way across the hall dragging his wheeled suitcase behind him. In the human's mind, he was still lying on his bed the night before…

It had happened long after dinner, just before Danny intended to sleep. He had already changed into his PJ's but was delaying sleep with a bit of bored distraction, hunting on the internet instead. He had his laptop resting on his hips, the screen flickering as he changed webpages, providing the only light source in the dark room. One of his arms was wrapped around Phantom's back, holding the relaxed frame of his counterpart close as he casually surfed the web.

The ghost's head was lying on the human's shoulder and his green eyes were closed, resting in that odd half-sleep he had in place of the real thing. They had been like this for at least two hours, switching between different positions whenever Danny started to lose feeling in his extremities.

It seemed that no matter how long Danny let Phantom hold him, the ghost never got his fill. A full night's sleep together would only just be enough to keep the ghost focused throughout the school day. As soon as Danny came home, he always found a wide-eyed counterpart perched on his headboard, followed swiftly by being pulled back into bed, where if Phantom had his say, he would stay for the rest of the evening.

Danny remembered that this night in particular the ghost had gotten his way. He had been pressed close to his human-half for long enough to almost completely lose himself in the odd sense of ecstasy that he had tried and failed to explain to the other teen on many different occasions.

Although it was true that Danny didn't quite understand the emotions, he could definitely feel the change in the ghost's behavior. It was near impossible to be around someone who was so elated by your very presence without your own heart melting a little. Danny supposed that was part of the reason he hadn't paid it much mind when Phantom did things like gently run his fingers over his skin or press his lips to his neck.

It was just something that came naturally with intimacy, and somehow it had not triggered any alarm bells... or it hadn't until that night…

It was his fault, and he knew it. It had just been so late and he had been so relaxed after spending all afternoon in the company of his ghost half. They had built up a bubble of affection together and after a whole week it seemed like second nature. He still didn't know exactly what his subconscious was thinking at the time… even though on another level he understood completely. It must be written somewhere in basic human nature that you should kiss someone who shared your bed and cuddled against your chest.

He only realized what he was doing when his lips met with the slightly colder ones belonging to Phantom. He pulled back, but it was already far too late. His head hit the pillow as he was kissed back, slowly at first but becoming more purposeful as his counterpart acquired a taste for him.

The sound of his laptop being closed drew Danny's attention, and he had just enough time to see Phantom pull back from the kiss and place it on the floor before his hips were straddled and his lips recaptured. Fingers tightened around his right shoulder and a hand that could summon explosive energy blasts cupped his cheek, tilting his head a little so the ghost could lean deeper into the kiss.

Phantom's lips parted, moving against Danny's and capturing his bottom lip between both of his. Pressing even closer he attempted to coax the human into kissing back, baiting him by flicking his tongue across his counterpart's lips.

Unfortunately for the ghost, his moment of surprise was over and the logical part of his human half's mind had kicked in, prompting the human to push the ghost off of him. Phantom didn't resist beyond a soft whine of disappointment.

Then he found himself facing his counterpart, his gaze drawn to Danny's big blue eyes, cute facial features, and messy black hair. The image alone triggered another deep stab of pure need in his gut.

Danny Phantom didn't beg; he was far too stubborn and strong willed for that, but his tone was far from stoic when he tried to convey his feelings to the human.

"Please don't make me stop," the ghost murmured, reaching out and taking hold of the material of Danny's long-sleeved PJ top. The human gazed back, a wave of guilt mixing with the panic and confusion the kiss had already caused.

Danny almost obeyed his request; the pleading look in those glowing eyes was almost too much. It was like the one a cat might give when its catnip is taken away before it's finished. Thankfully the part of his brain that had caused him to panic in the first place reminded him that he was essentially kissing himself and that was...just too weird…

There was also the fact that Phantom was a guy. Not as traumatizing as the kissing yourself part, but definitely on the top ten list of reasons this was utterly and completely wrong. He allowed the ghost to snuggle up to him every night this week, but as soon as their lips touched a line had been crossed and now he could finally see the implications of everything that he had allowed between the two of them.

This was so fucked up… how could he have not seen it before?

That's when the little angel appeared on his shoulder and reminded him that he had permitted it because he knew Phantom needed it, plain and simple. Danny had been right beside Phantom when he had explained the darkness eating away at his soul, and his conscience could not bear the idea of having the power to help but doing nothing. That's why he had put up with all the groping, the hours spent in bed, and the occasional numb arm.

He hadn't pushed Phantom away when he was softly nibbling on his shoulder and neck right in front of his friends. How could he draw the line now after a few kisses?

It didn't help that, while not forcing another kiss, Phantom started to trace his fingers over any bit of Danny's exposed skin he could get his gloved hands on. The soft material and feather light touches sent short shivers through the human's flesh and blood body.

Perhaps sensing that he had gained some leeway against whatever inhibitions were preventing his human from returning the gesture, Phantom pressed closer and their foreheads touched, forcing Danny to look at him and nothing else. Every inch of the ghost yearned to close the gap, to kiss him again and lose himself in the tidal wave of pure bliss, the likes of which he had never felt before, even when he was still part human.

He managed to hold himself back, but only by a small margin. More than anything Phantom didn't want to bully or force his human half into anything, especially since he knew how much Danny would hate that treatment.

However, he also knew that Danny loved to be needed—he was the exact same way. All he had to do was show the human how he was feeling and Danny's own endless empathy would do the rest. Gradually, he reached up and wrapped an arm around the human's shoulders, taking a second to steady himself before he began to speak.

"Danny, I know this must be weird for you," the ghost began trying to sound as calm as he could. Danny opened his mouth, likely about to make sure Phantom understood just how fucking bananas it was, but the ghost's fingers were faster, pressing against those unbearably tempting lips to silence him.

"Sush… I just need you to shut up for once in our lives and kiss me... I don't know why but the emotions... it's so much stronger than cuddling." Phantom was staring right into his counterpart's eyes as he explained it, forcing Danny to take in what he was asking so there was nowhere for him to hide.

It worked like a charm; he could picture the slowly beating heart in the human's chest breaking a little as he was torn between his morals and his empathy for his counterpart. It was too bad it had to come to this, but Phantom had no idea what he would do if Danny refused him so soon after giving him a taste of heaven. "Please Danny?" the ghost urged, his sensible argument braking down a little as his willpower failed. "…I need it…"

Danny gulped when Phantom used that word, the same one that had been so present in his thoughts. Phantom needed this. In his mind's eye he imagined those electric green eyes changing to that of intense blood red. For one scary moment, he was back in Vlad's library, his counterpart floating above him and glaring at the human in a way that made it clear he wanted nothing more in the world than to rip his heart out with his bare hands. It wasn't a position Danny ever wanted to be in again.

When he was conflicted like this he always found it was best to go with his gut feeling, and right now it was telling him to suck it up. It wasn't like the kisses really meant anything anyway; it was just part of his new role as sanity keeper. He had taken blows to his body and pride for the good of the city before after all. What was the harm in a few kisses?

Resting over him, Phantom was waiting patiently for his answer, contenting himself by planting soft kisses in the little spot behind the human's ear. Danny sighed deeply, barely managing to get the word "Fine" passed his lips before he was pinned to his bed, his lips reconnecting with Phantom's identical ones.

* * *

><p>Danny was still hardly able to believe it had been midnight when the ghost finally allowed him to sleep. He hadn't been looking at the clock when his laptop was taken, but he guessed they must have been transitioning between periods of tender lip locking—with short breaks for position changes and to catch his breath—for around a full hour. It hadn't felt that long though, especially since he thought he would get bored after all that time.<p>

In that long hour, his relaxed mind had brought up some strange observations. Like the fact that although Phantom hadn't tried any open-mouthed kisses, he now knew what the ghost's saliva tasted like very well. Not to mention how its natural coolness made his warm skin tingle on contact, a little sensation that was amplified when one considered how sensitive the lips already were.

He also now knew that his ghost half enjoyed biting down softly on his bottom lip in-between kisses and that his short hair was the perfect length for lacing fingers through when pulling someone into a deep kiss.

Phantom had started out on top but had switched to let Danny take the lead somewhere along the line, allowing the human to discover that the ghost preferred the hard kisses to the soft, but also liked variation.

He vividly remembered how the ghost hummed appreciatively against his lips once in a while to indicate just how much he was enjoying this activity, and despite himself, Danny had to admit it ended up feeling a lot less creepy and strange than he had expected.

That night he ended up sleeping in Phantom's arms once more, and true to the ghost's word, the next morning he was bright eyed and bushy tailed and completely ready for anything that would come his way.

Unfortunately, his long night of sleep and the hard light of the morning had also given Danny time to reflect on what had happened last night, and his initial reaction of 'what the fuck' came rushing back with a vengeance.

It didn't help that as soon as he opened his eyes, the day had been going by in a blur, not allowing him much time to think of a way to deal with any of this. One moment he was eating breakfast, the next he and Jazz were stuffing Phantom's clothes into his bag, and then he was helping put the finishing touches on the disguise.

By the time they had gotten it all together, Danny had gotten significantly riled up, a fact that he squarely blamed on Phantom, who had spent the whole time strutting around with a calm and confident air, trying to sneak kisses from his poor conflicted human-half at increasingly inopportune moments. This Included right in front of Jazz, something Danny never would have allowed even if it had been initiated by a perfectly-normal unrelated-to-him girl instead of his same-sex counterpart.

More than anything, he wanted a serious chat with Phantom. He had no idea how they were going to work this out, but he knew they needed to. Danny already discovered he didn't have the heart to push the ghost away, but, as his sister told him on many occasions, if he just let the emotions he was feeling build up he might just—

"Danny!"

An elbow jabbed his side, and the teenager snapped back to reality with a jolt. After a reflexive cry of "Ouch, Jazz!" he crossed his arm over his chest to rub the now sore ribs. He looked up and noticed that four pairs of eyes were staring at him. A mix of concerned looks from his parents, the apprehensive gaze of his sister and a grin of amusement from the disguised Phantom.

After a rather awkward moment of silence—well awkward for everyone but Phantom, who seemed to be enjoying this immensely—Maddie gently prompted her clueless son, "Danny, this is Danyel Phoenix. Danyel, this is our son Danny."

The blue-eyed teenager looked up at her with a 'Yeah, I know, so what?' face before he realized that he hadn't introduced himself. Pushing away the irony of that fact, Danny pulled out his best fake smile and reached out, taking hold of Danyel's hand and giving it a friendly shake.

The green-eyed teen smiled back, discreetly running his thumb over the inside of Danny's wrist, making the human repress a shiver. He pulled away a little too quickly, retreating a few inches behind his sister, reminding himself that he would have to be careful around Phantom today.

The ghost had already proven he didn't think about the consequences of his actions when it came to getting his hands on his counterpart, and this was the absolute worst time to be drawing unwanted attention.

"So… is this your only bag?" Jazz asked, helpfully filling in the silence caused by her brother's strange behavior. Danyel nodded and nudged it a little with his sneaker-clad foot, pulling his eyes away from Danny and focusing on his parents.

"Well then we better get going, the RV is parked just outside," Maddie explained, and then turned to her son who had yet to take his eyes off there soon-to-be house guest. "Danny, take Danyel's bag for him."

The blue-eyed teenager reached out and took the suitcase from the blond, setting it down on the cart he had been slumping over for the last half hour. He stood up straight and took hold of the cart again, pushing it forward and following the rest of his family as they started to move through the airport towards the parking lot.

Taking the walk as an opportunity to begin the process of getting her new charge used to his temporary home, Maddie said, "We're going to go back to the house first. There is just enough time to get you set up in your room before your first day at Casper High."

"—and I've got some of my famous flapjack Fentons still warm in the oven if you're hungry," Jack added, always the first to bring up food.

"Thanks, Da—um…Mister Fenton…But I'm fine, they fed us on the plane," Danyel replied, not having to turn to know his sister and counterpart winced at his slip up. The ghost could practically feel Danny's glare boring holes into the back of his head.

But after that tense moment passed, Danny suddenly realized something about his counterpart's voice was a little off. As the family filed into an elevator taking them to the garage the teen decided to test his theory.

"Hey, Danyel?" he asked leaning over the handlebars of his cart again and looking up at the green-eyed male.

Phantom looked back curiously at his human self before giving the standard answer, "Yes, Danny?"

It was only at that moment that the human half realized he hadn't thought of anything to say after that. Aware of the eyes and ears of his family Danny had to think of something quick. The shine of white metal caught his eye and his gaze was drawn to the belt buckle around Phantom's hips.

"Nice belt," Danny blurted, speaking to fast to realize the last thing he wanted to do was have his parents thinking about Danny Phantom when he was standing right beside them in paper-thin camouflage. Luckily, only Jazz seemed to notice his slip up and rewarded him for his stupidity with a kick to the ankle that drew a small hiss of pain from her brother.

"Thanks," Danyel replied, not skipping a beat. "I'm told this guy Phantom is a big deal around here. Thought it might help me fit in." He had expected his belt might come up, but he hadn't expected it from Danny; he was there when Sam gave it to him after all.

On the other side of the elevator, Jack bristled, the topic of the ghost boy was always a touchy subject for him, especially since the little punk had managed to evade Fenton capture for three whole years.

"He may be a big deal, but that doesn't change the fact that he's still a filthy ghost!" the father Fenton reminded the teens.

Maddie nodded in agreement, "All ghosts only strive for selfish gain, and this superhero act he pulls is just a cover up for some plan. We may not have been able to figure it out yet but whatever it is, we will be prepared for it." She crossed her arms over her chest, drumming her fingers over her upper arm, obviously sharing her husband's annoyance at being outwitted.

Danny was the only one who noticed Danyel's posture change, and without another thought he reached forward and took his counterpart's hand. He squeezed tightly. It was a small gesture, but enough to encourage the ghost to move on, pushing away the disheartening comments made by his parents.

As if nothing had happened the green-eyed teen perked up, and made an attempt to change the topic. "Oh yes, the vice principal did mention I would be staying with ghost hunters..." he offered, knowing all too well the topic would keep his parents busy for the whole ride home.

Sighing deeply, Danny rested his head in his free hand. Well, at least they were getting the ghost hunting talk out of the way right off that bat. The doors of the elevator opened and the group pushed on towards the Fenton RV (which was double parked due to it being far too large for only one space).

Suddenly remembering that the point of starting this conversation was to satisfy his curiosity, Danny listened closely to Danyel's next sentence. Just like he had expected, the other teen's voice sounded a little deeper than his own and carried with it a bit of what sounded like an echo.

Danny didn't remember his counterpart's voice sounding like that before, and he wondered if it was a recent change or just something he was putting on in front of their parents. If that was the case it was working because the adults didn't seem any the wiser, and if the blue eyed teen hadn't been stressing about unrelated things, he would have called this morning a complete success.

When they reached the car, Jack helped Danny load the bag into the back of the RV, squashing it between a rack of Fenton bazookas and the box of specter deflectors. Danny shut the trunk with one quick motion, leading Danyel around the side of the vehicle. He climped into the passenger door and leant a hand to his counterpart to help him over the high chassis and into the body of the RV.

Danny made for the backseat, but an arm wrapped around his hips and halted him for a moment. Alone in the passenger compartment, Phantom stole a soft kiss from his human-half. Danny tensed, growling ,"Not now..." before pulling away sharply from Phantom and retreating to the back seat, strapping his safety-belt over his shoulder.

Phantom frowned, but followed and sat beside his counterpart. He knew Danny was right, he really shouldn't risk getting caught. It was just far too easy for him to forget there was anyone else in the room whenever he got in close proximity, and knowing Danny was forbidden fruit only added to the allure.

Ever since their first kiss, the warmth in Phantom's core had been burning brightly, and he felt almost normal again. Where once it seemed he was barely staying clear of the dark clawed hands that threatened to pull him back into his own personal hell, now they were locked away safely in some corner of his mind, and he was free. Still, just like before the warmth would eventually fade and from that knowledge came the constant need to fend it off, even with stolen kisses if necessary.

His human half had become many things to him since their separation. First his friend, then his battle partner, and now as someone he needed more than anyone else. He shifted a little in his seat leaning against Danny, grinning a bit as he remembered how this new transfer student arrangement would improve his ability to stay in contact.

Now all he had to do was convince Danny to allow him lip service more often, preferably without getting so uptight about it. The ghost could hardly believe he used to be so apprehensive when it came to romantic matters. No wonder he could never hold down a girlfriend.

Jazz settled down in the second row of seats glancing at her brother and his counterpart, noting how close the two were sitting and wishing she had brought her notebook. The Fenton RV roared as jack turned the key, backing it up and slamming on the gas, much to the discomfort of his passengers.

**A/N**

**Ohhhh man this chapter is late.. I'm sorry guys.. I've recently realized the downside of working with Dream Trace is you pick up her update habits... (well.. at least you finally got a kissing scene)**

**Not that I haven't been working my ass of though... I'm in the middle of a lovely one-shot that is sitting at an elephantine 14,000 words and it's not even at the halfway mark (it may have to be posted in chapters to prevent mid-editing suicide)**

**anyway, updates for two halves will be slow till the other fic is done (trust me it's worth it)**

**Till then we have semi regular updates on the blog, (( pitch-pearl-chicks on tumblr )) along with the usual art features and random extras.**


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